Jammed (Louis Tomlinson au)

Chapter 26

We were back to work early the next morning. I would have much rather stayed in bed and contemplated my future with Louis some more, but we were both well aware that especially after yesterday, we really couldn't spare any more time lounging around all day. The fact that we were still at a dead end was eating me alive the minute I woke up this morning. My fingers began to twitch out of anxiety, but Louis' warm palms wrapped around them quickly. And when I looked up, he was oddly still sound asleep.

It was not long after, however, that I threw a plush pillow over his head and pushed myself out of the bed and of his grasp. After what I had learned from Harry yesterday, I knew the first thing we needed to do was check out the lab after the apparent break in. Sure, there probably wouldn't be any traces left, but I was already well aware of who it was. However, I was more worried about what else he took from the lab.

Louis got up ever so slowly. I had learned over the short period of knowing him that he was anything but an early riser. I'd always wanted to even have a chance to sleep in.

When we arrived at London Labs, just a few blocks from Louis' apartment, we found it taped off by police. Other than that, there wasn't much activity and I doubted there was any work going on in the building anyway. Even the police seemed to be a little relaxed, making me believe that they were almost done with their investigation. I needed them to leave if we had any chance of getting in the building; I wasn't really high status with the recent government breaches brought by good old Mallory. Of course, no one except for the few people I was in contact with knew of that.

"Jancer! Jancer Ryan!" I heard my name being called as Louis and I got closer to the building. Amongst the crowd of policemen and women I couldn't really tell until I saw a tall, lean body push through the crowd. I found it odd that the FBI was brought onto this investigation, but nevertheless I was happy to see a familiar face.

Liam crossed over the flimsy line of police tape and met with Louis and I on the other side. I couldn't remember if they had met before, but they shook hands and shared a warm smile and I didn't bother worrying about it. "Liam, what are you doing here?" I asked curiously at the tall man. He wasn't even wearing a suit, which from what I understood was the appropriate FBI dress code. How the hell did the police believe this little twenty something year old kid with a bit of stubble covering his cheeks was a lead government agent? He looked more like some frat boy who spent more time drinking beer than investigating federal crimes.

But I trusted Liam, despite how it might sound. He had been a friend since I came to New York. Back in my early days, I spent a lot of time at the New York branch where Liam was just an intern. And even now, years later and when I had, as far as anyone else knew, become some sort of an enemy to the state by trying to kill my boss, Liam still trusted me.

"I'm working this case, remember? You came to me for help, and I don't care what my boss wants me to do in my teeny tiny little office, this is a hell of a lot more important." he answered. "So, are you saying you were bored of office work? So much that you gave yourself your own investigation?" I raised an eyebrow. Liam began to laugh.

"I guess. I mean, all you have to do is wave your badge around and suddenly you've got full access anywhere." Liam joked, but I understood completely. If someone had even bothered to check my ID in the past few weeks, they probably would have found all sorts of restrictions that Mallory had probably inputted before I even left New York a few months ago. Other people's ignorance seemed to be an advantage for all of us then.

"So, have you gotten to go into the place yet?" Louis asked from beside me. "Actually, I have. Just for a little bit though. There isn't too much damage, just on one of the floors which seems okay. No one really knows what's missing though, so hopefully you can help with that." Liam answered and turned his back to us, heading back under the police tape and toward the building. Louis and I followed, surprisingly not being stopped by any officers.