Death on Two Legs // Shyan

14. Now Or Never

It felt so unbelievably good to lay down on the fluffy hotel bed. The white sheets smelled like fabric softener, there was even a little chocolate on the pillow and everything. They had gotten a twin room this time, thank god, and Shane paid for all of it. And he had showered now, making it a lot easier to actually share space with the tall man. They sat still now, both on their own beds. Ryan was cleaning his gun in silence, a line of tension cutting trough his heavy brow. And Shane laid on his bed with tall legs spread out like a weird looking spider, drumming his fingers against his tigh. He had ditched his phone some days ago, after Fear had called. It was too risky to have a device so easy to track at hand. He had tried to get Ryan to do the same without success, the shorter man was too dependant on his social networks to  give it all up just like that- even in a situation that could have been life threatening.
"Sara figured out Fear's location, wich wasn't that hard apparently. There's a warehouse in the fringe."
Shane said, biting on the chapped flakes on his lips like a bored child.
"Wait-who?" Ryan rubbed his temples as he laid the gun on his tigh and looked at the tall man, the line on his forehead deepening even more.
"Sara Rubin, my, uh... what's a good word for it? Right hand woman. You've actually met her once."
"That lady with purple hair who accompanied you in burning my house down?" Ryan's voice was stark.
"Yeah, her hair isn't purple anymore though."
Shane spoke like it was not a big deal at all, what was irritating.
"Can we sleep now? I've got men hanging around the hotel grounds keeping watch, you can drop that tense look off your face. We'll drive there second thing tomorrow. After breakfast."
It was a pensive silence that followed, Ryan rubbed his temples and craved coffee as his mind raced over things he'd rather not be thinking about.
"No. We go now, when it's still dark." He finally announced. "Now or never"
Shane got up to sit.
"Seriously? Dude, I've gotten barely any sleep since we murked Tinsley! It's almost five in the fucking morning!"
It had been a crazy couple of days, Ryan couldn't deny that. But what he really needed was for it all to stop, and there was no other way to put an end to the madness but to kill the man who started it.
Fear needed to die.
And not only for what he had done for Shane and him, not only for the threat of him killing the both of them, but for everyone else the madman had hurt during his long years in buisness.
The human trafficking had to stop too. But Ryan knew Fear was just a supplier transferring his patients to the buyers. He was just one of the many heads of the snake.

"You all right there, man?"
Shane woke Ryan from spacing out with a soft look and a little nudge.
"Yeah, I... we need to do this now, dude. My brain is imploding, we need to clean up this fucking mess."

It took them twenty minutes to get into a car. Shane had to call his driver to go get his "civilian car" from his house, and Ryan wanted to change into some less muddy, less sweaty clothes. He also went to get a coffee from the hotel restaurant that had just started selling the early breakfast, while Shane made some calls.

"We're going in." He muttered to the payphone as he heard Sara shuffle in the other end.
"What is it, half past five? Why are you calling me Shane?" She murmured, and Shane could imagine how tired she must have been.
"I'm calling because this could as well the last time you'll ever hear from me. I could die, Sara. It's not a joke."
The line went silent. Then there was a sigh.
"Should I call around, gather a backup squad to cover for you? I just got to bed like two hours ago from tracing Fear's calls for you, what else do you need?"
Her voice wasn't soft like it often was when they talked, now it was kind of bitter. She must have been worried.
"I don't need anything else, I just wanted to say goodbye in case..."
"Oh shut up, you aren't gonna die. I simply won't allow it."

They sat down on the cool leather seats of Shane's car. Ryan looked pale and terrified, Shane however seemed better than ever. At least he was quiet now.
"There's one thing I need to do before we go." He said finally, tall fingers tapping the wheel, eyes nailed to the glowing LA horizon.
"What is it?" Ryan's voice was weak underneath his nervousness, hand brushing the zipper of his gun bag unconsciously.

It happened fast. Shane turned to face Ryan, who was hunched over the front seat like a terrified hamster. He reached over to cup the shorter man's cheek with his palm and softly pulled him forwards, kissing him all softly as his long spine bended uncomfortably over the gearstick and the cupholder.
Ryan exhaled sharply, breath warm on Shane's cheek, but didn't fight off the kiss at all.

It was all over faster than Ryan's brain could compehend with that much shit on his plate, and he ended up just staring at Shane with those wide eyes of his.
"Sorry... I wanted to do it at least once while we're both still breathing."
Shane said softly, eyes trailing away from Ryan who looked like he had just seen a ghost.
"It's... I'm..." He stammered over words in a nervous awe. "It's fine."
He ended up saying.