Jammed (Louis Tomlinson au)

Chapter 19

NOTICE: I had some technical difficulties yesterday, and so if you read this chapter yesterday, you only got the first half. So please, read on!! There's more! :)

Getting out of the building was a lot harder than getting in, oddly. They quickly shut down the elevators after I had gone up, suddenly afraid that their supposed suspect was still in the building. So, before any of the guards on the top floor even bothered to notice that I wasn't one of them or a Kaminski, I found an empty stairwell and hurried; I was glad that it wasn't a ten-floor building.
In the lobby, I once again saw the receptionist, but this time she was speaking with some of the security members that had now reached the bottom floor. Walking passed them carefully, I saw her glance at me a few times, making me worry that maybe she was on to me. I tried to listen in on her conversation with the guards but in such a panic as I was, it was hard to really concentrate on understanding Russian.
I was able to walk out of the building freely, the woman apparently not as interested as she appeared. The warm summer air and the current situation were making me sweat as I panicked. I could barely even remember where the hotel was; the only thing I remembered was that it was a few blocks away. I didn't have a car this time, though, and walking on the street make me feel much more vulnerable. It was so much different than London or New York. In Russia, I had enemies: most of which I could've even pick out in a crowd if I had to.
I tried to relax, but hurrying down the sidewalk I probably looked as if I either really had to pee or I was late for dinner with the in-laws. Finally, I saw the hotel in my peripherals. The lobby was quiet and soft music was playing; everything just as we had left it this morning.
I reached what I hoped was Marlee and Niall's room after a painstakingly slow elevator ride. The whole journey home was like that though, because I had all this time to worry. I worried about the virus, because now that I really had no idea who had it, I had no idea when the spread would begin. I worried about Louis the most though; being in the custody of a Kaminski was bad no matter your relation to them or what you'd done.
The door swung open and Marlee barely even looked at me before swiftly turning back around and sitting beside Niall on the large king sized bed at the center of the room. Niall looked to be working hard on his laptop still, probably trying to find some sort of security footage or something to help us find Louis.
Beads of sweat were forming on his brow-line and as he narrated his actions under his breath, I saw how panicked he really was. Marlee, beside him, was rubbing his back in a comforting matter as she held her breath and watched the small computer screen intently. I stepped into the room and shut the door, pretty much unnoticed, as the two of them sat quietly. It was then that I saw how attached they had both become to Louis; he was a part of our small team and his disappearance was everyone's worst nightmare.
"Any word yet?" I came over and stood in front of my two closest friends, barely even noticing me. It was obvious that they hadn't discovered anything since the moment Louis' connection was cut. It a normal situation I would've been annoyed with the fact that neither of them were even glancing up to look at me, but now I knew that the most important thing was finding Louis. So I wasn't about to make Niall break his focus.
"His line's completely silent, still. Now we're just looking for any sign of him in the city." Marlee looked up at me, still holding Niall as if she let go he'd disappear too. I nodded my head, but struggled to figure out how I could help. Marlee was trying to relax Niall a bit until finally she grabbed her own computer and started her own research. They were both fairly talented with the tech stuff, especially Marlee. Although no one was as good as Drew, we could all manage to try. But I was still struggling to breathe as I watched Marlee and Niall.
I wouldn't ever be able to help Louis as much as they would. And as much as he wanted me around him, it would always be dangerous. Even if we somehow got him back alive it certainly wouldn't mean he was okay, or that this was all over. Marlee and Niall could save him, but my past limited me to do anything. I had spend days assuring myself that making Louis a part of our team was a good thing, but this had brought me right back to what I feared the most. No other friend could die because of me.
"Holy shit, I got something." Niall's voice rang out and both Marlee and I turned our heads to look at him, his hands just barely hovering over the keyboard at his first time stopping in about an hour. He was breathing heavily, as if so much typing really did work up a sweat. My heart was pounding, as I was sure everyone's were, with just the smallest bit of hope that Niall had found Louis. If there was one thing I knew, it was that the Kaminskis didn't hesitate.
"You found him?" Marlee came over and sat down beside him. I decided to sit beside her then, because having to wait for Niall to speak was making me really frustrated. It was a hell of a lot easier to look at his screen and see the one person I didn't expect on it.
"Mallory got off a plane an hour ago at Sheremetyevo Airport." Niall muttered as we stared at a piece of paper listing passengers on one flight earlier today that Damien Mallory was indeed on, first class of course. I was expecting to hear something of Louis, and so news that Mallory was here simply annoyed me. It did probably mean that the virus was at least contained in the city somewhere, but it also meant that we had something else to worry about besides Louis missing. If Mallory was here, there was no doubt he was coming to meet someone. Hopefully it wasn't the family member I had just murdered in the park, that would be quite awkward.
"Okay, well we knew that he was in contact with the Kaminskis. What does that mean for Louis, though? Focus Niall, Mallory can wait." I assured him as he continued to breath heavy, his blue eyes flashing between me and the computer screen as a million things probably went through his mind. Marlee, of course, worried about him. Suddenly, though, Niall was typing again as another file popped up on the screen, covering the last as if it wasn't even important anymore.
"Within ten minutes of Mallory's plane landing, fifty million dollars was transferred to Louis' bank account. And that was only five minutes after Louis disappeared." Niall's voice was shaky as he explained it. For a moment I didn't even believe him, but the statistics on the computer screen didn't lie. For some reason, Niall could still have access to MASK databases and with a little bit of knowledge from whatever computer hacking Marlee had taught him, he had access of all this information. And there was no such thing as coincidences.
A million thoughts were running through my mind, one of them being of course if Louis was still alive, and I didn't want to link the two findings together. Louis was the hardest, yet also the easiest person to let into my life. It took a week for me to warm up to him and even allow myself to trust him. I had trusted him with me at times, and I'd never had a connection like that with anybody. So, as the facts presented themselves, it didn't add up for me. I had gone past just trusting Louis, I cared for him. I cared for him like I cared for Marlee and Niall, who I have known for about seven years. And he cared about me, I knew that.
I couldn't stand being in that room for much longer. It was warm and much like Niall, I was beginning to sweat with fear of the worst. I figured with the evidence against Louis, Marlee and Niall would soon be working on an attack plan to just go after Mallory and Louis, since it would be figured that they'd be together already. It'd been over an hour since we lost contact with Louis, and there was now a growing chance of a three-party terrorist threat together in Moscow.
I hurried over to the balcony and shut the door forcefully, as if to try to step outside of the chaos that seemed only to exist inside that small hotel room. Outside, the air was fairly cool as the sun began to set. I was surprised it was already this late, but being in Russia the sun did set fairly early. The whole day had just disappeared, but I doubt that night would even matter because I wouldn't be getting any sleep.
I could see a good deal of Moscow from the balcony, and as I thought about it, the balcony was an easy target for anyone who wanted to shoot me from a number of the buildings. It was getting to the point where I didn't even care, though. I had my gun in my jacket still but my hands were too shaky for me to manage anything with it. It would probably be good for everyone else if I did die, though. Maybe it'd put this whole nightmare to rest. Louis could be safe if I died, but until then he never would be.
I heard the sound of the door open and close, and soon enough Marlee joined me in leaning over the edge of the balcony. The city life was moving below us, transforming into the night as the people below began to join in the weekend excitement. At least from what I could remember, it was still the weekend.
"It's not a coincidence, I won't even try convincing you of that. But it could be some act Mallory is putting on to make you upset." She spoke with logic and calmness, which almost made it seem like what she had said was actually possible. But if Mallory did want to make me upset, a simple death threat to Louis would do the trick. He wouldn't dare hand over all that money. As I knew him now to be a greedy and horrible man, although it was still shocking to believe it so, he wouldn't risk something like that.