Chasing Charli

by Quinn, Aneta

  As soon as the elevator door opens I run the few remaining steps and practically kick down the door to the rooftop. I shove my hands straight into the dirt of one of the big rectangle pots and yank out the few plants, and then I quickly scoop out whatever dirt there is before finally pulling out the case I hid in there

  I drop the case on the ground and drop to my knees as I scramble to open it. I click the lock open and start prepping my weapons, grabbing everything and anything that will be easy to carry.

  I shove a pocket knife against my waist band and then pull out the two guns I have in the case.

  I've had these hand guns ever since I started working with Charli and took them along with us when we came here, just in case.

  I detach the clip on the first gun and check the ammunition before clipping the magazine back into place and sliding it into my waist band as well. I check the second one while I already make my way back into the elevator, not caring if anyone sees me running around with a gun.

  As soon as my feet hit the pavement on the street I run towards Drew's house; I run so fast and so hard like my life depends on it.

  12. Sleeping Beauty, A Gorilla, and a few knocks to the head

  Charli

  I can hear faint murmuring before it gets louder and then suddenly I open my eyes to see at least 4 guys in the room, I take a quick look around before they even notice I'm awake.

  It looks like we're in someone's lounge room and I'm propped up against the couch on the floor.

  I look around at the pictures on the walls and on the shelf and before it clicks how familiar the furniture is I see a nice picture on the wall of Drew and someone who I presume is his little brother.

  I groan and hope to god they haven't hurt him. As soon as the sound escapes me one of the guys turns to me and laughs a little.

  "Looks like sleeping beauty's finally awake" he smirks.

  As soon as the thought of running crosses my mind I realise my wrists are tied together in front of me. I have to think things through, try and plan something quickly. I'm not saying Jax isn't reliable but I should be smart about this. Jax didn't train me in stuff just for me to give up so easily and expect everyone to help me and get me out of this mess.

  I look around then and see the creepy bar guy leaning against the far wall inspecting his gun casually. There are two guys standing towards the entrance of the room closer to the front door and then I notice the beefy gorilla who hit me across the head standing in the middle of the room with my bags.

  I send him a murderous glare as soon as I feel my head pulse in pain – stupid thug looking asshole.

  He opens the first bag and empties the contents right on to the lounge room floor which I realise is Jax's bag. All his clothes scatter to the ground and the ape squats down and flicks a few things around. He realises there's nothing but clothes so he picks up my bag and empties that out too.

  My clothes drop to the ground and one of the guys squats down and picks up one of my lace undies, dangling it from his finger.

  "Interesting choice sleeping beauty...care to give us a show in these?" he grins at me.

  I can't help it when a laugh escapes my lips. I must be insane to be laughing right now, either the knock to my head was worse than I thought or I'm a weirdo that laughs in intense circumstances.

  "I'm sure they'll look much better on you" I smirk.

  He scowls at me and reaches out to grab my hair but creepy bar guy stops him, "Marty, that's enough" he says lazily, not even looking our way.

  The guy called Marty drops his hand before he can even touch me and drops down on the couch next to me, his leg casually leaning against my arm since I'm still on the floor.

  "Charli...we know that you know what we're after, you're a clever girl. So instead of playing around and wasting time, how's about you just tell us where you've got it and everything will end nicely."

  The asshole with a tendency to wack people across the head with his gun is still rummaging through my stuff. He finds my hand bag inside the other bag and empties that out too, dropping makeup, loose change, notes, and finally the mints onto the floor. As well as all that my small gun clatters to the ground.

  As soon as I was done with the cops after I witnessed the murder and realised there weren't many people I could trust, I went out and bought a gun. I had no clue as to what was a good gun or what was easy to handle so I guess I picked the smallest and girlish gun I saw. Like I said, I had no clue.

  "She's probably stashed it back at the apartment Finn" says the big guy while he rummages through my crap.

  So creepy bar guy's name is Finn; how interesting I think to myself. I have to make sure I get a good look at all of them, in case I ever get out of this mess and have to ID anyone.

  I glance at the guy next to me on the couch and he winks at me as soon as he sees me looking at him. He's not as bulky as the gorilla but he's still pretty muscly. He has light brown hair and hazel eyes and a very detailed tattoo of an eagle on his arm. I realise he still has my lace undies in his hand and is casually spinning them on his finger. Without thinking I try to sit up and reach for my underwear but he ends up grabbing my wrist and pulling me on top of him.

  "Fuck Marty, I said enough" snaps Finn but he sounds more drained than angry.

  Marty releases me and I quickly scramble to the other side of the couch. I realise then when I get another good look at his tattoo that it looks exactly like the one Jax has. Could that be coincidence?

  "You" I say as I point at him questioningly.

  He raises his palms as if in surrender and quirks his eyebrow up. I look from him, to Finn who's eyeing the stuff on the floor, and then finally to the bulky guy pulling apart the contents of my bag.

  I look to the gun and then to the mints tin and lunge to the ground. I pretend I'm fumbling for the gun but try and push the mints away as far as I can without them noticing.

  As soon as I've jumped off the couch though Marty springs into action and jumps after me tackling me to the ground.

  I see the mints just to my right and as he's sitting on top of me trying to restrain me I kick and thrash pretending to try and get out of his grip. I flick the tin without them noticing and watch out of the corner of my eye as it slides just out of reach and under the couch.

  I grin like an idiot and stop resisting just as Marty manages to get both my wrists locked above my head in his grasp.

  "What are you grinning at?" he smirks at me.

  "You fight like a girl" I laugh; can't really admit that I'm grinning at my success now can I.

  At my words Finn starts to laugh uncontrollably and leans on his knees with his gun still in his hands.

  The gorilla as I've now come to call him gets up off the floor and marches towards where Marty and I are on the floor. He shoves him off me and then grabs a handful of my hair pulling me up into a sitting position.

  "Hey, what the fuck?" complains Marty as he jumps to his feet and brushes himself off.

  "Where the fuck is it?" yells the gorilla in my face.

  "I don't know what you're talking about" I play dumb and wince as he pulls my hair back harder, making me look right at him.

  "Stop playing dumb princess" he says and before I realise what's happening the back of his hand flies out and smacks me hard across the face.

  Fuck that hurt, but I can take it. I guess when you're under pressure, or have so much adrenaline coursing through your veins, the pain isn't as noticeable. Okay I lie, that really, really hurt.

  He let's go of my hair and for some stupid reason I decide now is a good time to laugh in his face. I seriously have a death wish; I need to stitch my lips shut.

  He growls and reaches out to smack me again but before he gets the chance Finn grabs his wrist.

  "Relax Dodge. Not until we find it, otherwise we're fucked" says Finn and drops his arm.

  I laugh even harder now, "Dodge? I think Gorilla still suites you better."

  Marty starts to laugh but then pretends to cough as
soon as Dodge turns his murderous look on him.

  "Take her upstairs before she gets herself killed by Dodge would ya?" says Finn and motions towards the stairs with his gun.

  "And Dodge, she's smarter than she looks" says Finn and looks down at me, "Don't get riled up and distracted because that's exactly what she's trying to do, god knows why she would want to piss you off though" he finishes and goes back to leaning against the wall casually.

  Marty leans down and scoops me up, throwing me over his shoulder.

  I start to kick and try to smack him with my tied up hands as we're heading up the stairs, and just before we get to one of the rooms I can hear Finn say to Dodge that it's definitely here.

  Marty kicks one of the doors open further and drops me on the bed before walking back to the door.

  He sticks his head out and yells, "Do you want me to strip search her Finn, in case she's got it on her?"

  I can't hear the reply and tense a little as soon as he closes the door behind him and takes a few steps towards me.

  He crouches down in front of me and lifts his sleeve up a little, displaying his tattoo fully. He narrows his eyes at me and then puts his finger to his lips as if telling me to be quiet. I realise then that he's not a bad guy; I knew I was right about the tattoo. He knows I recognise it and he's asking me to keep quiet; or maybe I've just gone completely insane.

  Before I can think too much into it he walks over to the window and props it open as wide as it will go. I look at him a little confused but before I can ask him a question there's a commotion downstairs and then heavy footsteps on the stairs.

  The door bursts open and Dodge comes charging in towards me looking deadly.

  Marty steps in between us and raises his palms out; like that would somehow stop a big guy like Dodge.

  "What are you doing? You heard the rules, they said not to do anything until we know for sure she has it on her; otherwise we'll never find it."

  Dodge laughs and smacks Marty's hands down and then shoves him aside. He grabs me by the throat and starts yelling right in my face.

  "I'm sick of fucking chasing you around the country. I'm sick of fucking listening to them and all their rules. Dodge do this, Dodge do that. So you listen here you little fucking princess...for the last time, where the fuck is it?" he says with his hands firmly wrapped around my throat. I gasp for air and Marty tries to nudge him away.

  Dodge releases me for a second and swings a hard punch straight to Marty's face. I watch shocked as he drops to the ground unconscious.

  Dodge turns back to me as I take the opportunity and kick out, getting him right in the chest. He's a solid guy but that still manages to knock the air out of him even for a second.

  I scramble back on the bed as he lunges for me, missing me as I roll off the bed and land with a hard thud on the ground – it’s a little hard to be co-ordinated when your hands are tied up.

  I grab for the closest thing near me which happens to be a solid looking lamp and smash it right across his head. He shakes off the shards of broken lamp and tries to get off the bed, reaching for me at the same time.

  I squeal and start to crawl away backwards, heading towards Marty where hopefully he has some kind of weapon on him.

  Dodge slides off the bed and I notice he's bleeding from his head. Just as I look back towards Marty, I'm grabbed by the ankle and dragged back across the hard wood floor.

  He crawls over me and is straddling me, holding my tied arms above my head. He's so heavy that I can barely breathe with him on top of me so I try to kick out, but it doesn't do me any good as I start to gasp.

  Jackson

  I climb the side of the house towards the open window. As soon as I saw Marty in the room I knew there was hope. I didn’t even realise that Marty my old friend from boot camp, was still working the Morelli case. I guess he's been undercover this entire time.

  If he's here though, it means they're nearby, either in the house already, or watching more closely than I thought.

  I'm almost to the open window when I hear Marty yelling at someone and then what sounds like someone dropping to the ground.

  I panic a little and try to climb faster along the water piping. I hear a commotion in the room and just as I manage to make it to the window and look in, I see Charli smash a lamp across the big guys head. She's got way more fight in her than I ever thought. Most people would be cowering away or giving in to someone as big as this guy but not her. There's pure determination on her face and if this wasn't such a fucked up situation I'd probably say she looked pretty hot, being so fearless.

  I try to haul myself in through the window unnoticed just as the big guy starts to climb on top of her and hold her down; my blood boils just looking at it all.

  I pull my gun out from my waist band and aim it right at him; I don't fire though because I don't know how many guys are downstairs yet and now that Marty's unconscious, I don't know just how much backup I have or who's working for who.

  I clear my throat and he finally looks up at me and practically growls before leaping off Charli and trying to tackle me. I move quickly out of his path and he runs right into the drawers.

  He pushes against the dresser making it wobble and then turns around facing me again.

  "I wouldn't if I were you" I hear Charli say and we both look over at her standing next to Marty's body, holding what I presume was his gun.

  "Do you even know how to use that thing?" I ask.

  "You really think this is the time to lecture me on how to use a gun Jax?" she smirks at me as she pulls the safety off, and I can't help but smile. I feel slightly stupid standing there smiling at her considering the circumstances we're in and before anyone else can say anything we hear footsteps on the stairs and both look towards the door.

  I see the guy that was at the bar earlier and my mouth drops open when I recognise the person standing beside him, holding a gun aimed right at Charli.

  The Suit and a few surprises

  Charli

  I admit I’m currently quite confused as to what happened. One moment we were kicking ass together and then as soon as Finn and the man in the suit walked in to the room, it was like Jax shut down.

  His face drained of colour as he opened his mouth to speak but then snapped it shut again and shook his head.

  I don't know what to do so I point my gun at the man in the suit; he seems the most important here. All I had to do was pull the trigger and bang, he would be gone. I wasn't quite sure as to who was working with who right know though so I don't do anything but point it; I looked pretty bad-ass.

  The man in the suit starts to grin and he holds his hand out for me to take. Right, because I'm just willingly going to go running into some strangers' arms and shake his hand.

  He realises that I'm not going to take it and turns to look behind me at Jax.

  "Quite a piece of work you got here Jax. I always said you were wasting your talents, but it seems you've got your work cut out for you with this one" says the suit as he motions to me with his gun.

  Jax says nothing in reply but tenses a little when the gun is on me again. I look back towards the door at Finn and see him give me a small wink. Was that a you're-going-to-die wink or I'm-working-on-your-side wink?

  I start to lower my gun as I hear Marty groan and press his palm to the side of his face. He stands and wobbles slightly between Jax and me and then looks at Dodge, "what the fuck Dodge?" he slurs.

  He probably doesn't realise there are two new people now joining this fantastic party in god knows who's room in Drew's house. Shit! Where the hell is Drew?

  I straighten my back and point the gun at the suit again, "Where the hell is Drew?" I ask trying to sound firm but my voice comes out a little shaky, great.

  He shrugs and looks at Finn who stops smiling at me as soon as the suit turns to him. Finn shrugs as well before finally answering, "He took a few hits from gorilla over there and he's been out cold ever since in the kitchen" he smirks.

  Jax
finally decides to speak up and I jump at the sound from behind me.

  "You Vince? It's been you this whole time?"

  "What's been me this whole time?" says the suit, avoiding some sort of obvious connection Jax has made.

  I notice now that Finn has taken a step behind the suit, or as Jax called him – Vince. I look up at Marty who is slowly moving behind me and taking steps towards him too.

  "Why would you tell me Morelli was after Charli? Why would you give me the truth if it was you?" asks Jax and my mouth pops open in shock.

  I quickly look at Jax and he shakes his head at me a tiny fraction and I look back at this guy named Vince, who apparently is the infamous Morelli that wants to kill me. He is the terrifying Morelli that everyone is scared over. Well in all honesty he has apparently killed a lot of people. This is the big bad wolf that I am taking down with my evidence, which I remember is lying under the couch in the dust downstairs. Honestly he just looks like any typical business man, wearing a sharp looking suit, his tie perfectly straight, greying hair and deep brown eyes; seems like I'm profiling his details into my brain as well for future reference.

  "I told you the truth in hopes that it would scare you into handing the evidence over to me, just to protect your..." he looks at me then before finishing, "to protect your job."

  I roll my eyes sky high and realise I scoffed loud enough for everyone to hear and turn their attention to me.

  I can see Jax practically smirking at my annoyance and I realise he is way too calm for someone who is face to face with the big bad Morelli. He must have something planned or he knows that someone is coming that we can actually trust and will help us.

  I realise as soon as he scowls that the suit has his gun pointed at me again. Before I can react though there are sirens blaring from outside, a helicopter in the distance, and Finn turns his gun on the suit and yells, "put your gun down now!"

  He stands there momentarily before looking at me, then at Jax, and before anyone else can do anything I'm pushed aside towards the bed and I hear the gun go off.

  There's a scurry as Marty tackles the suit to the ground, the gun clattering loudly on the floor and starts to lock his hands behind him in cuffs; his face pressed firmly into the hard floor.