Stockholm Syndrome

Guilty as Charged

John's POV

I sighed impatiently as I looked down at my watch. It had already been half an hour since that irksome doctor had forced me out of the room, and left me to wait outside of the kitchen like I was some sort of misbehaving child and he was the adult with business to take care of. I had never trusted this doctor, but Max insisted that he was trustworthy, and if I wanted things to go smoothly I had to bite my tongue. I couldn't shake this sense of apprehension about Dr. Hanks and that his strict patient confidentiality excuse was bullshit. If he had such a strong sense of justice he wouldn't accept the substantial paycheck Mac cut him every time he made a house call.

I shook my head as I straightened my body from the relaxed position it'd been in leaning against the wall. Too much time had passed for a simple routine check-up. Something suspicious was going on, and I was going to find out what that pious doctor was up to.

I pressed my ear against the door, hearing snippets of conversation, but the heavy oak doors muted much of the conversation.

I had expected as much, but I had a few tricks up my sleeve. I was Max's head of security after all, and that meant that I had access to all of the video cameras on the property. Including the cameras inside the house.

Technology these days have made my job much easier than it used to be. With a few taps on my smartphone and an app that let me view all of the video feeds from the cameras I could watch every little move that doctor and Niall made. I chuckled darkly as I adjusted the feed to show me the kitchen.

Niall was sitting on the counter, looking rather drained. His eyes were puffy, swollen from crying I would assume. He kept shaking his head and saying "No". My camera didn't have speakers, but I was an exceptional lip reader. I may not be able to hear the conversation, but I knew exactly what was being said.

The doctor was standing beside Niall, an arm around his shoulders, trying to comfort him. I doubted that all of this was about Niall's knee. It had healed up well enough after he'd rested it for a few days. I knew that this appointment was unnecessary, but again Max had insisted. He didn't like to play with broken toys, and who could blame him?

"But I can't," Niall cried as he shook his head again. "I can't..."

"Niall... what other choice do you have?" Dr. Hanks frowned. What were they talking about? I wondered, but as I had suspected it wasn't about the Irish lad's knee.

"I don't know, but I can't just leave. If I do Max will know something is up and he'll make sure that Louis pays for it. I can't do that to him!"

And there was my red flag. I usually wasn't wrong about these things. I was tempted to report this to Max, but a part of me was curious. I wanted to know more... I'd let them continue this little conversation for a while longer before I intervened.

"If you stay here you're just putting yourself in unnecessary danger. You need to come back with me and I'll take you to the police. They'll get in contact with your people, with Simon, and they'll make sure that Max and Tom can't hurt you," the doctor said an encouragingly.

That idiot! Niall had told everything to that moronic doctor! Max and Tom were at risk, not to mention that our security and location had been compromised. I didn't like when plans went awry... especially not when it came to my job with Max. He wasn't a forgiving man.

I'd seen enough so I exited the app and sent a quick text to Max. Less than a minute had passed before he called me.

"So... it's pretty obvious that this guy's going to turn us in?" Max asked, his voice shaky.

"Yeah, unless you think you can bribe him to keep his mouth shut. We already have that red head locked up at Tom's... I don't want to add another to the list, but things tend to get messy when you deal with high profile people," I muttered as I walked down the hall a little ways. I wouldn't want Dr. Nosey to hear me on the phone and get suspicious.

"Messy as in how? If you haven't noticed everyone I deal with makes at least six figures," he huffed angrily.

"Messy as in I don't want to have to kill him. People tend to frown at people who shoot doctors. I'm not saying we can't, in fact it would be a lot easier, but it's better for you if you keep your nose clean Max."

"This can't get back to me! That's what you're here for, to make sure that nothing goes wrong!"

"And I'll take care of it, which is why I asked if you thought you could bribe him. I don't want to spill blood if we can avoid it," I sighed. I was just as frustrated as he was, if not more so. If he got into a scrape with the police he could probably buy his way out of anything serious. Max had never killed anyone, had never been arrested, and had never committed any crimes. I was a completely different story. I had a lot that could be pinned down on me. I made good money working for Max, but I also had a lot of enemies. Most of my money went to keeping the dogs off my heels. If I got arrested I wouldn't even live to see what prison life was like.

"I'll see what I can do..." Max finally muttered. "Everyone has their price."

"That's right, so keep your chin up. Don't change any of your plans, just act like nothing happened," I instructed as I eyed the kitchen door. Niall and Dr. Hanks were still chatting I assumed.

"So... I'll need you to keep Niall busy for me while I talk to Dr. Hanks," he said dryly. He sounded like he'd calmed down, any hint of anger was gone and replaced by an icy calm. Just like the flick of the switch.

"Not a problem, anything else you need?"

"No... I'll be down in a minute to go talk to the doctor and see how my favorite Irish lad is doing," Max chuckled darkly. "I'll see you in a few."

With that he hung up.

I smiled slightly to myself as I walked back over to the door. No one could say that my job was boring.

Hey guys!!! Hope you enjoy this chapter! I've been sooo busy with tests and papers and I feel bad that I haven't updated sooner. It's a bit short, but I feel like that's just how certain parts are. I can't really force a chapter to be longer. Anyway, I love you all!

QUESTION OF THE DAY: What do you think of Infinity???

If you don't know what I'm talking about shame on you! Jk ;) but go look it up, it's by 1D.

Also the guy in the picture is John.

As always all the love,

xoxo

IndieChick95