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3- Old Friends

The bus had 12 stops until we reached the final station. That would be the only place it would be safe enough to get away.

"My arms ache." Hayes whispered.
"Well what are we gonna do about it? It's not like you can just drop out."
"The oil. There's a leak. My hands are slipping."
"I need you to hold on!"
"I don't think I-" the bar he was hanging onto broke and he fell off.

The truck behind us was speeding but he was clever enough to roll under it. A smaller car followed and I just managed to make out the passengers faces before the bus took a turn.
They were yet again, onto us.

Hayes must have seen them too. He lodged the bar under the car and diverted it upwards, sending it flying into the air then crashing just behind the bus. The clan were like warriors, leaping out of the smashed car with barely a scratch on any of them.
"The other one must still be under the bus!"
"Start shooting!"
"Don't take your eyes off Hayes!"

I had no other choice. The bus took another left and I rolled onto the grass and into the bushes just left of the curb.
They continued to chase the bus, disrupting the traffic, but either not seeming to notice, or care.

When they had all disappeared behind the curb, I got out of the bushes and looked about for Hayes.
I thought of calling him.

"Hayes?"
"You! Where are you?" I immediately recognised Soyer's voice on the other end of the line. Hayes must have dropped his phone in the tower.
I hung up instinctively, and decided I was going to have to look for him the old fashioned way.
Wheather or not I could do it without being caught by the remainder of the gang in the square was my main concern.

I strolled into another market and grabbed a large woven bag and a sun hat, then I threw a long, tailed coat, which I snatched from someone's stall- all the while, wondering why anyone would bother selling such a jaket in such a hot country- over my shoulders.

It was stereo-typical, and stupid, but it'd pass for now as my best cover.

Ironically, I saw the shopkeeper stealthily packing something from another stall into his pocket and then shuffling off.

"Might as well have a little fun on holiday.." I said quietly to myself.

"Hey," I squawked. "Stop him! Ahora! Ahora! That fat man, quickly quickly, he's a thief!" I tried out the new Spanish I'd learned in the shop, all the while trying to keep my cover, and run after him without revealing my size ten trainers under the tailcoat.
And they say men can't multitask.

He had the most pathetic excuse I'd ever seen for running. He hobbled in fast motion down the stalls, his wide body knoking multiple ornaments and sweets onto the floor as he went.

"If your trying to get somewhere quick mate, you might as well roll!" I yelled unconciously, knocking off the female voice.

He turned, confused.
Just then, he stumbled into a fruit stand and sent the whole thing, with all it's fruits, collapsing into the floor.
He lay there, dumbfounded. The stall owner was yelling at him in Spanish and throwing what was left of the fruits at him. Then she called her dog out to come and bark in his fat face.

I buttoned up my coat, gave a haughty little performance as I walked by him then mumbled "And it comes around."
Before throwing the hat and tail coat behind me. The coat landing gracefully on top of him.

"You alright, Lady?"

I turned. It was Billy. A smile grew on my face and I found myself laughing as I went to hug my bestfriend for the first time in four years.

"Billy Haynes. Speak of the devil.. in a way."
"You always were a massive confusion." He smirked, and we hugged again.
"So, when were you gonna tell me..." he lifted the hat and coat off the ground, "you were into dresses."
I laughed. "Well, right after you told me where you'd been for the past millenuim."

There was shooting from afar and I assumed Hayes and been found.
"Crap. Look Billy, we're gonna have to catch up another time, just hold this," I handed him my shotgun. "And keep me covered."
"What? Who-"
"Don't shoot the guy in the navy t-shirt. Everyone else with a gun," I patted his back. "Have fun."
I ran into the square. "Adios!"

I approached the square. Hayes didn't seem to have been found, but Cameron appeared to be threatening so called witnesses that weren't coughing up the details on where they'd seen me or Hayes last.
"One more time... I'll count to three if you like." He put the gun back up by a stall owner's forehead. "Where did he go? One.... Two..."
"Hey! I'm right here, jackass."

"Hm." He ordered for his monkeys to unarm the woman and she ran back into the market, yelling curses at them.
"Now. I believe last time I saw you, we were-"
"Last time I saw you, you were a flimsy fourteen year old, with an alcaholic dad flopping around everywhere and leaving you to carry him to his bed. Isn't that right?"

Cameron didn't scare me. Not even in the slightest. He wasn't like Jarheid or even Thomas. He didn't have that sence of authority to him. It was all an act. You could see right through him. Either of the others would have gotten in my face or shot me right there, right then. But Cameron was taken aback by what I'd said.
He had to pause to stop himself from coming out of character.

"I see your snappy mouth never surpasses you."
"Ooh. Big words for a small boy. You must have gotten all A's."
"Oh, shut up. I'm the one holding the gun remember."
"That you are. But you're not the only one."

I turned. Tirrean stood majestically behind me. Tony at his left. Billy at his right. All armed.

I nodded at them in satisfaction. "Hell yeah."
My brother was like my guardian angel. He never failed me. He always had my back. Even when I
was half a million miles away from home. Even after I'd sworn I'd be okay on my own.

"Miss us?" He spat the words at Cameron, his eyes firey and alert, his cheeky smile breaking through.

"Yeah. Yeah I did for a while." He put his gun down and walked forward.
"What's he playing at?" Billy whispered, keeping his gun pointed at him all the while.
"Oh. I don't like playing games. Just telling the truth. I have missed you. All of you. I wish I could just stop all this fighting. Wish I could... quit."
"He's buying himself time." Tirrean- the brains of the team remarked.
"Yeah but what for?"

Seven police cars had surrounded us from the back, two more rolled in and closed the gaps in the front.
Cameron and his team of five had all vanished.

"Hands up where I can see 'em pal. Drop the guns."
Fifteen or more men were surrounding us. All guns ready to fire.
"Drop it."
The four of us tossed our guns one by one at their feet and raised our arms.
"You have a lot of explaining to do."

"Where could they have gone?" I mimed to Tirrean, who was being handcuffed and dragged into a car.
"Something's not right.." he mouthed.
I was chucked into another car and Billy and Tony dissapeared into two more.
Hayes had made it his soul purpose to save me when I was in the freezer. But here I was, being stupid when he needed me.