Desmoterion, page 29
His eyes fluttered, wondering what prompted Girish to want to hold on to him so tightly after last night’s protests. Either way, he wasn’t going to complain about the extra warmth of Girish’s sleeping body.
It had been years since he slept with anyone, much less woken up with them wrapped around his body. He knew Girish wasn’t interested in him, and it was fine, though he did wonder what on earth was going through Girish’s mind when he’d blown Trent. Two frustrated guys getting relief wasn’t hard to understand, but sucking a guy's cock seemed an odd thing to do for someone so adamant he was only into girls.
And why was Girish so intent on following him and sticking around. He’d assumed Girish would drop him at the first reasonable chance, happy to be rid of him once and for all. And yet, Girish stayed by Trent’s side along the journey. It bugged him because he wasn’t sure what Girish’s motives were or if he even had any.
A part of him wanted to believe that Girish had feelings for him, but that was a pipe dream for his fantasies. With the way Trent treated Girish early on, there would be no way of that ever happening, but it didn’t stop his mind from wishing for it to be true.
* * *
Girish moaned, holding the warmth in front of him close. He kissed the exposed neck; the texture of the skin against his lips was dizzying after so many years. His hands ran down the front of shirt-covered chest, feeling the bumps of ribs and other things he couldn’t quite make out. He frowned when he reached hard nipples and what should have been soft breasts but found a firm chest.
“As much as I’m enjoying this little diversion, we should probably get up.”
Girish froze in shock and horror as he jolted into full consciousness and realized he couldn’t take back the kiss any more than he could hide his arousal pressing against Trent.
Trent chuckled and turned around in Girish’s arms to face him. “Imagining I was someone else? I get it.”
Girish turned bright red.
Trent grinned and leaned in to hover over Girish’s lips. “For as much as you protested last night, you didn’t have any problems holding me close while you slept.”
Girish swallowed hard, his eyes on Trent’s red lips. “You were convulsing in your sleep.”
“Why the hell didn’t you wake me? That would have stopped it.”
Girish scoffed. “And risk getting knifed in the gut? No thanks.”
Trent laughed and pulled back. “Good point. So what did you do?”
“I held you close; it seemed to stop the flaying. I must have fallen asleep like that.”
Trent stared at Girish.
“Maybe you just needed a bit of comfort in your dreams.”
“Maybe I still need some.” Trent reached out to touch Girish with both hands, rubbing the stubble on Girish’s unshaven face.
Girish swallowed hard; everything inside was telling him no. Except his body wasn’t listening. His cock throbbed, willing and eager to go with the flow. When he touched the back of Trent’s head to bring his lips closer,
Trent’s eyes drifted shut... and then pulled back suddenly, his eyes going wide.
“What is it?”
Trent wiggled out of Girish’s arms, got up, and tiptoed to the doorway. He put his hand to his ear as a signal and mouthed to Girish, “Listen.”
In silence, Girish got up out of bed and listened.
Shaking his head, Trent headed back in to get his shoes and coat on, and Girish did the same as the distant sound of sirens grew louder.
* * *
Ward frowned at the display. “Sir, we have a problem.”
Kipper looked down and gaped. “Is that local police? Have they left yet?”
“I can’t track them, but their stuff is still inside. That much I can see.”
The leader called out to Kipper, “What is it?”
“The local police have tracked down Trent’s position. I assume the walking cop finally made it back to the roadblock.” Kipper wondered how Trent would escape this.
Stevenson was about to call the field teams when their leader stopped him. He turned and frowned. “What? We can have our men there to surround the building.”
“The last thing we need is to have local police see our team with assault weapons in hand. We’ll let this play out for now to see what happens. If they manage to capture Trent and Girish, then we’ll intercept.”
“And what happens if Dupont escapes again?”
“Let’s watch.”
* * *
Trent got on his hands and knees to slide over to their duffel bags. He whispered back to Girish as he tossed them over to him, “We’ve gotta get out of here. The cops are almost here, and the front door is out of the question.”
Girish looked at the back wall. “There has to be a back exit to get the garbage out.”
Trent moved over to the back and finally found a door. “You were right, come on.”
Girish shook his head. “Go outside and wait for me. I need to get something.”
“What?”
Girish pointed to the garage. “Our escape route.”
“You can’t be serious. They’re going to hear that being revved up the moment you turn it on.”
Girish grinned at Trent. “Then I won’t turn it on.”
* * *
Kipper watched in horror as five police cars positioned themselves in front of the gas station. He saw one of them talk into a bullhorn. “Get me patched into their audio. We might be able to hear what’s going on.”
Delgado typed into his computer and brought up a signal. He patched it into the comm speakers.
Kipper listened and said, “Asking Trent to come out with his hands up is a pointless move. Then again, they have no idea both men inside are trained killers.”
The leader patched into that feed. “You never know; Trent often does something less expected of him. He’s made a habit of it over the years.”
Two police officers got out of one cars and inched toward the front door with guns in their hands.
* * *
Girish rolled the motorcycle out and into the back of the convenience store. Trent was already there with the duffels. He helped Trent stow them away and take out a gun for each of them just in case. “Now what?”
Trent reached for his location gadget and then realized it wasn’t on him. He swore and got off the motorcycle to head back inside.
“What are you doing?”
Trent inched inside. The silhouette of two men coming into view at the front door made his heart race, but he felt around the wall to grab the device and charger. He backed away, with his front facing the door, just in case the two men smashed it in before Trent could escape.
They did, just as Trent closed the back door and jumped on the back of the bike.
Girish was about to rev up the engine when Trent’s hand stopped him. He whispered, “What?”
Trent got off the bike and opened one of the duffel bags. “I have an idea.”
Girish flinched, the noise inside the gas station building getting closer to their position. “Hurry up!”
Trent rolled his eyes and then got back on the motorcycle. “Move as close as you can to that outer edge and then stop. Try to give me a clear view of the front without them seeing. I have a surprise for them.”
* * *
Ward blinked and leaned in as his video footage started to get hazy. “What the hell?”
Kipper stared at it and then laughed. “Smoke bombs. Nice one, Trent.”
Delgado called out, “They’re on a motorcycle. By the sound of it, they’re heading south as we predicted.”
“Did he kill them?” Ward asked as he watched the police officers drop to the ground and not move.
Kipper studied the footage, and then it dawned on him. “Sleeping gas. It’s a gas bomb. Check one of them for vitals.”
Ward scanned a body, and the results popped up. “You’re right, sir. They’re all asleep.”
“Just enough so they could get away again! Fuck ‘em,” Stevenson huffed. “I’m getting really tired of this. How can we catch up with someone like this?”
The leader eyed Stevenson. “By getting ahead of them. We have that advantage, and with a little luck, we will capture Dupont and Kannan before they even know what hit them.”
* * *
Girish stopped the motorcycle and looked back. “Why aren’t they following us?”
“It’s hard to drive when you’re asleep.” Trent laughed.
“You put them to sleep?”
Trent pulled out a shiny ball. “With one of these — a sleeping gas bomb. It only knocks them out for maybe ten minutes, but it’s enough time to escape. In other words, don’t stop, keep going!”
“Where’s the next turn?”
“It’s coming up on the left. Then we keep going east until we reach the forest. That’s when we’ll ditch the motorcycle, lighten our load, and continue on foot. It’s a couple of kilometers until the border after that.”
Girish bit his lip.
“What is it? You’re tense again.”
Girish scoffed. “Will it be that easy to cross the international border?”
“Who said it would be easy? Of course, it isn’t easy, but it is possible. The big problem will be the field ops trying to intercept us. I assume Kipper put them south of where we’ll be, but I can’t be sure until we get there. We might be in for a fight before we can cross, or worse yet, they’ll alert the government and let them know we’re attempting it.”
Girish frowned at that prospect. “Hold on tight. I’m gonna throttle it.”
* * *
The clouds overhead had turned black with the prospect of an incoming storm. Girish stopped by the entrance to a forest. “Is this the forest?”
Trent pulled out his invaluable location device once again and looked at it. “Yes, this is it. Time to say goodbye to our motorcycle and useless gear.”
Stroking the chrome finish affectionately Girish said “Goodbye, beautiful. It’s a shame that we have to ditch you. I hope whoever might find you will take care of you.”
Trent rolled his eyes.
Girish opened his duffel. “I was taught to respect those who help you. She helped us escape multiple times, so it’s only fair.”
“How did the motorcycle become a she in the first place?”
Girish laughed. “Doesn’t every guy name things they like after girls? Ships, motorcycles, guitars, and many more.”
Trent’s eyebrow rose. “Guitars? That’s kind of random compared to the rest of them.”
“I used to play guitar eons ago. We couldn’t afford one of my own, so I’d play the school band one or my friend’s. I wasn’t very good, but it doesn’t matter when you’re screwing around.”
Trent pulled out the rifle. “You want to ditch this? We can always carry it to the border and toss it if there’s no resistance.”
“Whatever works. We can bring one clip since I doubt they’ll have a whole army after us, judging by how many of them we’ve already taken out.”
Trent tossed the grenades on the ground. “I thought we might need these, but the bombs we found in the house were more useful. We can always bring another sleep bomb, just in case. Those are fairly light.”
“I was thinking we might want to get everything into one bag instead of two since we’re tossing the larger items.”
Trent put a handgun clip in his pocket. “Good idea. Most of it will be food since I don’t know where we’ll get any later. At least until we get to the village.”
“What about that small hotel? Does it not have food?”
“No idea, I never researched it that far.” Trent put the medical kit in the other duffel. “If it’s in the middle of nowhere, then it probably does, but who knows how good the food is.”
Girish pointed at the medical kit. “Do we need that anymore?”
“Yes, just in case they get the drop on us and injure one or both of us. It doesn’t weigh that much, and I feel safer knowing we have something like that in our bag.”
* * *
The trip through the forest was uneventful, just how Trent liked it. However, he could tell from Girish’s tense body language that he was nervous about the escapade in general.
He had to keep it together, though he was nervous. Deep down inside, he knew it would be hard to cross a heavily guarded international border, and it might just get them killed, even after all they’ve done so far.
The question mark was what their former leader had planned. Were they going to be stationed at every gap? Would Kipper be smart enough to keep them further down the line from where Trent was heading, or was Kipper even still in his position?
It was a possibility that one of them might have squealed Trent’s plans and that their leader was just toying with them, waiting for them to show their cards and, thereby, their downfall.
But that wasn’t going to happen; at least, Trent hoped it wouldn’t.
They’d all agreed a long time ago that no one, even under extreme duress, would reveal Trent’s plans for escape. If they did, it would only jeopardize their later escapes. He knew Emyr and Mike wouldn’t dream of fucking that up, but Kipper was always the wildcard in the equation.
Would he keep up his side of the deal and deflect them away from Trent’s spot, or would he ultimately crack under the pressure?
* * *
Kipper watched the field operatives sit around and play with their weapons. “What a good waste of money.”
Stevenson rolled his eyes. “Yeah, well, it’s not like we can predict how fast Dupont will go through the forest. They can’t do much until they are spotted.”
“True, make sure they’re alert for the border patrols that happen frequently. The last thing we need is to start a war over rogue operatives being stupid.”
Stevenson radioed into the team. “Watch out for border patrols. They’ll shoot on sight if they find any of you nearby. In other words, stop screwing around and pay attention!”
Kipper turned when Burkis called his name. He wandered over to him. “What is it?”
Burkis pointed to the screen.
Kipper read the screen silently, “I assume you knew about the gap to the north, and that’s where Dupont and Kannan are trying to cross.”
“Yes, that needs to be fixed. We don’t want the cameras to go out again.”
Burkis typed something else on the screen.
Kipper watched the words type out to say Burkis had found movement in the nearby forest. “Good, keep an eye on the database to make sure others don’t try to hack into our systems.”
Burkis went back to work.
The leader cocked his head to the side. “What was that about?”
“Just security problems, the usual day-to-day stuff. Another virus popped up, and he’s marginalizing it. He wanted to make sure it wasn’t something that we were running.”
“But he said nothing of the sort.”
Kipper laughed. “He doesn’t have to say anything. Pointing at the code on the screen is enough for me to know what he’s asking. We read that language. My team is a well-oiled machine. There’s no need for useless chitchat; we all know what is to be done.”
Stevenson’s face screwed up into a snarl. “I still don’t trust you, Renard.”
“That’s your problem, not mine.” Kipper went back to watching the monitor. “I’m here to retrieve Dupont and Kannan. It’s your blunders that have cost us precious time and resources.”
Angrily, Stevenson stepped toward Kipper, but their leader intercepted.
“Knock it off, Stevenson, or I’ll have you eliminated. Is that understood?”
Stevenson immediately backed off. “Yes, sir.”
* * *
Trent leaned against a tree to catch his breath. He estimated they were about five hundred meters away from the border.
Girish slumped to the ground and put the duffel to the side. “We didn’t even walk that fast; why the hell am I this winded?”
“Not enough sleep is probably the main culprit. We’ve slept maybe ten hours in the past several days. Not to mention living off protein bars and junk food isn’t helping either. What I wouldn’t give for a salad right about now.”
Girish drank some water and looked to the east. “It can’t be far.”
“By my calculations, the border is right outside of this forest area. I don’t see anyone nearby, but I still want to be prepared just in case they have rifles or have blackmailed Arden into completing the job.”
“Do you think that’s possible? They’d have to know he’s friends with Emyr and on your side.”
“You never know. For all I know, Emyr, Mike, and Kipper have been eliminated. I don’t think so, but I have no way of knowing until later. I’m hoping none of them have been stupid enough to volunteer anything other than the basics.”
“Is it possible to widen the range of the display on your gadget to see if they’re further out?”
Trent tapped on the display to pull out the map. He swore under his breath. “Looks like two groups are stationed further south from us. That’s probably why they backed off from attacking at the gas station, they received orders from above to head down here.”
“If that’s the case, then they’ve been put here all day long. That means we have an element of surprise over them. Can you see what type of weapons they have?”
“No, it’s not sensitive for that sort of thing, only that they’re present.”
Girish got up from the ground. “We need to time this just right.”
“Indeed, and also waiting until nightfall. They have night detection gear, but they’d have to be looking directly north for them to see us. The biggest thing will be the spotlights. We can see them better at night than during the day.”
Girish stroked his chin. “So this is about dodging spotlights? Do they have any patterns?”
“That’s what we’ll find out tonight. We’ll scout it out for a while to see if there’s a pattern. If we’re lucky, they’ll be on a timer system and always do the same sweeps. The key is to not get caught in the light.”
“But I thought you said there was a gap?”
