Falling For The Assassin

Chapter 6

Bangkok (Thailand)

24 04 2016

The Siam hotel

2340 hours

Zayn places his empty beer bottle on the bar and sighs. “That’s my fourth beer this evening. I’m gonna go to bed for the night.”

“Already? You’re such a quitter.” James smirks. “I didn’t raise a quitter.”

Zayn stands up from the table and rolls his eyes, grabbing his suit. “I’m going. Don’t do anything I wouldn’t do.”

James shoots Zayn an annoyed look. He knew that telling Zayn about what happened last night would be a mistake. He just wasn’t sure when Zayn would make the first joke about it.

Louis stares at Zayn’s back until he disappears, and then turns his head towards James.

“You told him?”

“About what?” James asks, playing dumb.

Louis rolls his eyes and plays with the bottle. “You know what.”

“Why wouldn’t I tell him about it? We always share that kind of stuff.”

“Because it wasn’t…anything really.”

James shakes his head and takes a swig of his beer. “You’re right. Getting each other off is nothing.”

Louis stands up from the table. “I think I’m going to head in as well.”

“In case you forgot, we’re sharing a room.”

“Give me the card then.”

“I’m coming with you.” James decides and stands up too. “Let’s go.”

The elevator ride is silent, with Louis staring at himself in the mirror while James’s watching the numbers go up with every level they pass.

They eventually reach their floor, and James steps out first.

“I’m going to sleep on the couch tonight.” Louis tells him after he looks at his watch.

“Are you serious? Did I make you that uncomfortable?” James asks, now feeling a bit sorry.

“It’s not you. It’s me.”

James snorts, rolling his eyes. “This sounds like a cheesy breakup line out of a rom-com.”

“It wasn’t intended as one. Just…I’ll take the couch and you take the bed tonight alright?”

James frowns, but doesn’t ask any more questions, because Louis looks pretty serious and a bit angry as well.

He makes his way towards the bedroom after saying goodnight, and closes the door behind himself. He takes a shower and changes into a new pair of boxer briefs before getting into bed.

***

James’s woken up by a bunch of noises coming from the living room of the suite. At first he thinks it’s Louis trying to do something in the small kitchenette, but then he hears a distinctive, loud voice, something like a scream, and that instantly gets him out of bed within seconds.

When he gets to the living room, he sees Louis with his eyes closed, trashing and kicking as he lays on the couch. He’s screaming something unintelligible, and there’s sweat covering his forehead, so much that his hair is sticky.

James kneels down beside him and tries to shake him awake, but it doesn’t help at all.

“Louis!” James yells and shakes him even harder, this time slapping him over the face. Louis sits up straight out of a sudden; eyes wide open, but blank nonetheless.

“Louis!” James tries again, and when there’s no reaction from the man, he stands up and hurries over to the sink, getting a glass of ice-cold water.

He throws it in Louis’ face, and in a matter of seconds, the professional assassin seems to regain consciousness.  He looks confused about his surroundings until his eyes land on James.

“What are you doing?”

“Uh…you were screaming and kicking al over the place…I thought-I thought you were having a nightmare. Seemed pretty scary.”

Louis shakes his head and pushes the wet hair out of his eyes. “Something like that. Shit.” He stands up from the couch and walks over to the bathroom to check himself out in the mirror.

“So what was it about? The nightmare I mean.”

“It wasn’t a nightmare.” Louis tells him after washing his face.

James leans against the doorframe. “Then what the f**k was it?”

“It’s just…it’s complicated. It’s best if you don’t stick your nose where it doesn’t belong.”

“Are you serious right now? I just helped you and you’re still an ungrateful little shit.”

Louis pushes against his chest so he can leave the bathroom. “Stop with the swearing, I’m not in the mood right now. Go to sleep, we’ve got work tomorrow.”

James watches him to make sure he’s gone to sleep, and waits what is probably half an hour until he finally goes to bed himself. He doesn’t go to sleep though.

His suitcase is resting under the bed so he pulls his laptop out and turns it on, instantly connecting to the Wi-Fi.

Serious nightmares is all he can come up with to type in the search box.

He gets to the nightmare disorder Wikipedia page, and quickly moves on because Louis didn’t have any of the symptoms.

He eventually stumbles upon the term ‘night terrors’, and clicks on the link.

These night terrors can occur each night if the sufferer does not eat a proper diet, get the appropriate amount or quality of sleep, is enduring stressful events, or if he or she remains untreated. Adult night terrors are much less common, and often respond to treatments to rectify causes of poor quality or quantity of sleep. Night terrors are classified as a mental and behavioral disorder in the ICD.

James frowns, and it suddenly occurs to him that except of last night, Louis has always insisted on having his own room. And even if they shared a suite, he’d always be up when Zayn and him went to bed.

When a night terror happens, it is typical for a person to wake up screaming and kicking and to be able to recognize what he or she is saying.

“That’s it.” He tells himself and scrolls further down. James’s not really sure why he’s doing this, why he even cares; but he does.

There’s something further down the page that explains how a traumatic event in someone’s life could also lead to night terrors, and James looks on top of the screen.

25 04 2016

Then it downs on him that today marks ten years since Louis’ family passed away, leaving him all alone in the world, and his heart clenches.

Of f*****g course

James looks for treatment, and finds medication and more sleep. Well, he could try and solve the latter, but the first one is all up to Louis.

He closes the laptop and finally tries to get some sleep, but makes a mental note to talk to Louis about it tomorrow after they pay a visit to Anderson’s residence.

***

“Have you seen Louis?” James asks Zayn that afternoon during lunch. They’ve both slept in due to jetlag, but they’re not rushing anywhere because for one, they can’t find Louis, and they also usually like to do things when there’s no light outside.

Zayn frowns. “No, I thought he was with you?”

“Well he isn’t.” James sighs and pulls back so the waiter can place their plates on the table. “When I woke up this morning he was gone.”

“Didn’t he say where he’s going?”

James looks at him annoyed. “If he told me where he was going, I wouldn’t have asked you whether you’ve seen him.”

“What crawled up your arse and died?” Zayn laughs, and then suddenly turns serious. “Wait. Don’t tell me. I don’t want to know the gross details.”

“Says the guy who has s****l fantasies about his off-limits boss. By the way, how are things with Liam? Are you two still in that fail-to-acknowledge-my-flirting zone? Or have you moved on to he-uncomfortably-smiles-when-I-flirt-with-him stage?” James retorts and sips his tea in a know-it-all manner.

Zayn flips him off. “Oh, f**k off mate.”

“Look, about the getting off thing-that was nothing. And I’d really appreciate it if you wouldn’t bring it up or even make jokes about it. Ever.”

Zayn’s eyes widen, and there’s a hint of amusement in them. “Jesus, don’t get your knickers in a twist about it. I was just joking. But if it makes you that uncomfortable I’ll stop.”

“It doesn’t make me uncomfortable, but it does Louis. Speaking of which, I’ll call Nick and ask him about it.”

He pulls the BlackBerry out of his pocket and dials Nick’s office number. His handler answers on the second ring.

“Hi Smith.” Nick says and James can hear the smile in his voice.

“Hey. So…we’ve got a small problem. We can’t find Louis.”

“What do you need me to do?”

James shrugs, and then remembers that Nick can’t see him. “Uh, try tracking him?”

“Just a second. Let me check if his watch is active.”

James takes a bite out of the potatoes on his plate, focusing on the conversation with Nick at the same time.

“His GPS is offline. He must’ve turned it off. All I can do right now is monitor him until it finally turns on and then get in touch with you as soon as possible. In the mean time, don’t forget to pay Anderson a visit. He’s supposed to be attending a party at a hotel tonight, so he’ll be out after seven.” Nick says.

“What about his security?”

“I’ll send you statistics on your watch; it’s better if you don’t talk about it in public.”

“Alright.” James agrees and hangs up, putting the phone back in his pocket.

They continue their lunch, and somehow, all thoughts about where Louis might be are gone.

***

Bangkok (Thailand)

25 04 2016

Dinso Road

1840 hours

James parks the car across the road from Anderson’s house, and turns off the lights as well as the engine, waiting for Anderson to leave his home.

He eventually does ten minutes later, in a black SUV. James counts to thirty and then gets out of the car with Zayn on his heels.

The gate is locked, of course, but James manages to climb over it with Zayn’s help, and then opens it from the inside.

“Nick just sent me the security check. Apparently the only security he has on this property is cameras at the entrance, in his living room, and hallways.”

“Shame that we didn’t bring any masks.” Zayn sarcastically says as they walk towards the front door. It’s not a bad place; it has a huge garden, a giant garage and the house is two-stores high.

“Now…” James starts once they’re at the door. “If I was a millionaire, where would I hide an illegal gunpowder shipment?”

“Most likely somewhere away from the prying eye. Basement.” Zayn smirks and points to a door right by the side of the house.

James smiles. “Who said you weren’t smart?”

“No one.”

The door is bolted shut.

James sighs and lets go of the lock. “Now would be a good time for Louis to show up unexpectedly.”

“I’ve been waiting to hear that all day.”

They both make a 180-degree turn at the voice, just to see Louis approaching from behind some bushes.

“What the f**k?” James asks. “Where have you been?”

“I took half of the day off, and then I came here. You two really do spend a lot of time doing pointless things. Move over Smith.”

Louis kneels down and pulls out a plier that he uses to cut the metallic lock.

“Here you go.” He proudly says and stands up, placing his hands on his hips. “You’re welcome.”

“Oh, right, because you did this for us.” James mumbles and opens the door.

“Where did you even get that plier?” Zayn intervenes, and takes the stairs first.

“I was bored when I got here an hour ago so I decided to snoop around in the garden house. Found this, and knew that the shipment must be in his basement, which would probably be locked. And guess what?” Louis smiles, thereby stepping on James’s nerves, “I was right, of course.”

“Oh…you should get a medal.” James replies with a sarcastic hint in his tone.

Louis winks at him. “Nah, the money is enough for now.”

James chooses to let it go for once, because now is definitely not the time and place to be arguing like children.

Zayn eventually finds the switch, and a giant hall is suddenly enlightened.

“Holy f*****g-“ Louis starts.

“-shit.” James says, thereby completing his sentence.

“There must be…”

James nods, walking towards the nearest wooden box and running his palm over it. “Half a ton of gunpowder.” He takes the watch to his mouth in order to get in touch with Nick. “Nick, we’ve found it. You have to send someone over here right now to retrieve it before it’s going to be too late.”

Nick responds immediately.

“f**k yeah. Well, agents from the British Embassy will be there in about ten minutes once I call them. How about you try looking around the house for further clues and then report back to me once I can call them?”

“Great.”

They look around the room for a couple more minutes and find nothing except of boxes filled with gunpowder.

“Let’s go and have Nick call the-“ James starts, but Zayn interrupts him.

“I found something. Look. There’s an almost wiped out shipping address on here. It’s…in Mexico.” Zayn reads. “Seriously? Is the entire world plotting against out Prime Minister?”

Louis walks closer. “Mexico? To whom?”

“No address. No name. Just says Mexico.”

James takes a picture and then informs Nick that he can send agents down here to collect the gunpowder and arrest Anderson.

Louis gets into his own car, James and Zayn is theirs, and plan on meeting back at the hotel.

James receives a message from Nick saying that they’ve got Anderson in custody and he’s going to be on his way to London later tonight for questioning.

“Report back to headquarters tomorrow. You’ve got a plane leaving at 0800 hours.” Nick’s voice rings through the car speakers while James parks.

“Thanks Hemsworth. See you tomorrow.”

James turns off the engine and looks at Zayn. “So, good news.”

“Yeah, I heard.” Zayn says, gripping into the door handle.

“You’re going to see your boyfriend tomorrow. Well, stalker fantasy actually. Same thing.”

Zayn pushes him. “You’re getting’ on my nerves. Maybe you need Louis to put you back into your place.”

James snorts as they walk towards the entrance. “If anything, I would put him back into his place.”

“Have you met him? He’s the most domineering person I know. And I know a lot of CEO’s and business moguls.”

James holds the door open for him. “Well, you don’t know them…intimately.”

Zayn crosses his arms and shoots him a surprised look. “Oh, and you do?”

“As a matter of fact, yes, I do. From what he’s told me so far, and from what I experienced two nights ago.”

“I don’t want to hear the story again, please.” Zayn fake-begs and immediately shuts up when he sees Louis waiting by the elevators, next to a family of three.

“Any of you want to hit the bar later?” Louis suggests.

“Is that even a question?” Zayn asks.

Louis smirks, not even meeting James’s eyes.

***

Bangkok (Thailand)

25 04 2016

The Siam hotel

2350 hours

James’s on the couch in the living room watching BBC when there’s a loud knock on the door. He grabs the gun from the table out of instinct and takes a few cautious steps towards the door.

“Who is it?” he asks in a deep voice, finger pressing against the trigger.

No one answer, and then there’s another knock.

“It’s meeee.”

James stops and lets the hand that was holding the gun down, sighing. It’s just a very-possibly extremely- inebriated Louis. He turns out to be right, because a drunk Louis is currently leaning against the doorframe with a loopy smile on his face.

“It’s meee.” He says again, in a really cute voice that James wasn’t expecting.

“You’re really f*****g drunk, did you know that?” James amusedly asks.

“Shh, don’t kill my vibe…bitch.”

Louis steps inside, but James has to stabilize him by the elbow so he won’t trip over his own feet.

“Let go of me arm! I hate it when people touch me.”

You didn’t seem to have a problem with that two nights ago…, James thinks but lets go of him nonetheless.

Louis collapses on the couch and pulls at the collar of his shirt. “I am suffocating. Undress me.”

“I thought you hated it when people touched you.” James retorts, even though his entire body is itching just to get his hands on Louis.

He’s beautiful even when he’s drunk

James steps closer when Louis shoots him an annoyed look and kneels down on the floor between his legs so he can undo the buttons.

Louis takes off his suit and lets it fall in front of the couch.

“What did you guys drink to get you this f****d up?” James asks while taking Louis’ shoes off and standing up.

“Weeeelll…Zayn and I had a few beers then he went to sleep…and I continued with some Vodka shots. One…or two…maybe nine? I don’t-I don’t remember.” Louis giggles and grips James’s wrist.

“Nine shots of Vodka after a few beers? Oh, then that explains everything.”

Louis pouts and tries to stand up. “Imma go to sleep. ‘m sleepy. Take me to bed?”

“I thought you didn’t want to sleep in the same bed.”

“Well…I’m gonna pass out anyway, so might as well sleep on a comfortable mattress, right?” Louis slurs and opens his arms with a lazy smirk. “Carry me.”

“Are you sure you’re professional assassin ‘Tom W’?” James asks, before he hoists him up in his arms bridal style.

“Heyy…”

James carries him to the giant bedroom where he lets go of him and tucks him into bed, after getting his pants off.

“Ahh…so comfy.” Louis smiles and closes his eyes.

James makes sure to turn off all of the lights in the suite before he gets into the other side of the bed. There’s silence for a few minutes until Louis shifts on the bed so he’s facing James, and looks at him with big, glassy eyes.

“You know…just because I’m a professional assassin…killing people for money…it doesn’t mean that I don’t have a heart.”

James snorts. “Oh please, you’re the human version of emotional detachment.”

“Yeah…because I lost everyone I loved when I was fifteen. Fourteen even. I think?”

James definitely wasn’t expecting Louis to be so honest with him, even in his drunken state.

“That’s why you had night terrors the other night? And disappeared? And almost drank your bodyweight?”

Louis shrugs and turns on his back to stare at the dark ceiling. “Well…it’s more complicated than that. I’ve got other problems you know; that’s in the past.”

“What problems?” James asks, even though he knows he’s pushing it a bit.

“Oh, I can’t tell you that James.” Louis smiles. “Otherwise I’d have to kill myself.”

“You already said that to me about two weeks ago. What is that even supposed to mean?”

Louis scrunches his nose. “Nope. Can’t tell you that. I’m not that drunk.”

“Is there another stage of being drunk beyond this one?” James teases. “I doubt it.”

“Oh…you should’ve seen me last year. Had to kill a CEO in Florida and went there during spring break. I remember two out of seven days.”

James closes his eyes and turns on his side to face him. “So who else have you killed?”

“Well…I don’t really remember insignificant people. Wait. Do you know Bin Laden?” Louis asks, voice getting lower.

James’s eyes widen. “You didn’t. The US Navy Seals did-“

Louis shakes his head. “Nope. I did. Was hired by the FBI to do it as a backup plan, and I did it, and then left the Navy to find him since I had to keep my identity a secret.”

“I can’t believe that.”

“Just because you don’t believe me doesn’t mean it didn’t happen.”

James runs a hand through his hair. “Anyone else important?”

“A few CEO’s here and there, druglords…terrorists.”

“That’s…a lot of deaths. Don’t you even feel guilty?” James asks in a hushed tone.

Louis shakes his head. “Sometimes. But I only kill people who deserve it. I always run a background check on them before I do something.”

“Did you ever…kill someone on accident?”

James doesn’t know why, but the subject is suddenly very interesting for him. Might be the late hour, or the fact that Louis is finally-sort of-opening up to him.

Louis laughs at the question. “James, my profession isn’t called ‘professional assassin’ for no reason. I don’t ever miss a shot, and make sure not to hurt people who aren’t in my way. Shoot someone in the balls or punch them so hard that a tooth falls out? Sure…I’ve done that. But those are just details.”

James doesn’t know what else to say, mainly because he’s shocked. But Louis takes the lead by saying they should get to sleep because they have a flight in the morning.

 James shifts closer to him, and it feels like he’s walking on eggshells, but Louis doesn’t seem to have a problem with it because he lets out a soft break and turns so they’re facing each other now.

“Promise you won’t run away again in the morning?” James asks.

Louis shakes his head and lets James engulf him in his arms before softly answering. “I promise.”

***

London (England)

26 04 2016

MI6 Headquarters

1530 hours

“Agent 05. Good to see you again.” Liam says the next day when James, Louis, and Zayn enter his office.

The two of them shake hands in what they want to seem like a casual manner, but James can tell that they’re both tense, and that there’s some s****l tension in the room.

Great, now there’s double s****l tension

Or is it just me?

Probably just me

 “Agent 09 and Tom W here as well Sir.” James says, which causes Liam to break from the eye-s*x Zayn and him were just having, and shake his hand.

“Our agents upstairs are currently questioning Anderson about the gun shipment that has been brought in early this morning. The government is pleased, but they’d still like Mr. Cameron back.” Liam says, trying to make a joke.

No one laughs, so he continues. “Until we get any further information about the case, I’d like you to take some days off, but as per usual, be ready to report back whenever you’re needed.”

A smile spreads over James’s face.

Zayn turns to him, mirroring his expression.

“Miami sound good?” he asks, placing a hand on his shoulder.

To James’s surprise, Louis also nods.

“Sounds great.”