Pack [Eddsworld]

CHAPTER EIGHT

"Okay, from what I hear the top dogs in the Burning Tygers are meeting nearby the North Woolwich Foot Tunnel." Ylva strode past the library, peering at her surroundings with distaste.

Tord frowned, increasing his pace to catch up but stumbling a little due to him wearing ankle boots with small heels. "Isn't that right out in the open?"

"It's clever. That means people will find it difficult to spy on them because there are few places to hide." She gave a bitter smile and turned the bend, not giving a second glance to the construction site to her right.

"Damn it. You're right." His eyes raked the surroundings, suddenly noticing a small huddle of figures on a stretch of pavement between two sections of road. "Ylva, wait- do you think that's them?!"

The girl froze mid-stride, rapidly turning her head with a fleeting hope of something -anything- to hide behind. "That's them all right. We need to get closer to hear what they're saying."

"Well, we're undercover for a reason. Let's just act like two," Tord made a noise of disgust, still not used to acting so innocent and friendly, "young lovers on a late night walk."

He reluctantly took her by the hand, dragging her a few steps before she remembered how to walk normally. They pretended to be whispering to each other, giggling from time to time, and swinging their hands between them. There was a zebra crossing, and after a reassuring glance from Tord, Ylva skipped across it with him trailing behind. The group of five or so adults drew away from their suspicious huddle, mainly men, but Tord spotted a willowy woman with an ugly scar running down her face and twisting her features. He also noticed the bald head of Fire-Guy from before and hastily returned his eyes to Ylva's back in case they were recognised.

"You don't mind if we wait here for a bit, do you?" The ginger flashed a fake smile, her eyes subtly narrowing with anger. "Our friends are coming to pick us up, and we told them we'd wait here."

"Actually, we do mind. If you'd kindly step onto the other side of the road, that would be great." The woman spoke up when none of the men muttered their dissent on the matter. She took an intimidating step forward, quite impressive in her height and muscular build. "Now, if you wouldn't mind."

"Lay off them, Bella." A man spoke up against her, equally as scarred but with a large beard and long hair. He lowered his voice and leaned closer to her. "They're just kids. I don't think they pose any real threat."

"What if they're spies?!" She eyed them up with her piercingly bright green gaze. "We can't risk any information being leaked to... Him."

"She's right, Anthony." Fire-Guy added in no more than a growl, and Tord suddenly realised how vulnerable he was without an army to command. "Hey, haven't I seen you girls before?"

"I don't believe so, mister." Tord attempted fluttering his eyelashes at him, offering an exaggerated simper.

"Ask your friends to pick you up somewhere else, kids." Anthony seemed to have a strong Devonian accent playing among his words, indicating he wasn't local to London. "You don't want to be caught up in this business."

"Of course, sir. We don't want to cause any trouble." Ylva nodded politely at them and laced her fingers with Tord's, both of them crossing the road fully.

They paused on the other side, the boy daring to look back, only to be met with glares. He continued to walk along the thin strip of pavement right next to the road, only stopping when they were completely obscured by the reddish bricks of the Foot Tunnel building. A single car sped past, ruffling their hair and sending up a blast of hot air and dust into their faces.

"If we could climb onto the roof without alerting them... We could probably catch a few words of their conversation." Tord planned out loud, squinting in an attempt to search for an easy route up the side.

"We'll be illuminated in the street lights. We don't want to get the attention of anyone inside the building, either." Ylva pointed out the obvious, before going against her better judgement and mumbling: "let's just do this..."

The pair sprinted across the road, using the sound of an approaching car to mask their footsteps. They crept up to the cylindrical building, standing to the side of the protruding entranceway and keeping out of sight of the windows. Tord linked his fingers together and widened his stance, providing his companion with a step-up. She raised her leg and lightly placed her toes onto his hands, preparing herself before jumping up and grabbing onto the masonry, hauling herself onto the the roof above the door. Tord grabbed onto her wrists and let her pull him up, the two of them easily scaling the remainder of the building by themselves. They flattened themselves against the green-tinged roof, straining their ears and suddenly realising how noisy the city really was.

"...thinks one of us is the rat. We need to find out where all of this information is escaping from, and pronto." Anthony sounded furious, and by the repeated click it could be assumed Bella was pacing.

"We just need to-" She stopped suddenly.

Ylva smacked a hand over her mouth, her eyes wide. Hic. Tord looked over to her in horror. Hic. She kept her lips firmly pressed together, both of her hands pushed onto her face to try and muffle the sound. Hic. It was unbelievable that she got the hiccups at precisely the wrong moment. Hic. Tord grabbed her and shoved her face into his 'boobs', satisfied when the noise had quietened enough to be barely audible.

"Is someone there?" He recognised the voice of Fire-Guy and held his breath, trying to melt into the shadows as a couple of the gang members peered up at the roof.

"No one's there, you're being paranoid, James." There was an 'oof' as one of them hit the other. "Continue, Bella."

"Yes, anyway... Putting the rat situation aside." She returned to her pacing, her steps louder than her speech. "Intel reports say Red Leader is up to something. It is even a possibility that he has returned to England, but we don't believe that is likely. There is, however, a bounty for anyone who can drag his sorry backside to our leader."

Ylva struggled until Tord let her go, allowing her to breathe as noiselessly as possible. He was used to hearing that people were planning to hunt him down and kill him, but it was always Paul and Patryk who delivered the news, leaving him to make an East decision from the safety of his base. Listening to it first-hand and knowing that one wrong move would end the night horribly was undeniably terrifying. The knowledge that Ylva would do her best to protect him was certainly comforting, but he didn't enjoy having to rely on other people for his own life.

"We plan to dispatch some units to investigate Norway. Others will research any connections Red Leader has had at any point in time and people will be sent to check those locations out over the next few days." At this, Tord tensed, unbidden images of Edd and Matt -even Tom- entering his mind. "We meet at Troxy in a week's time. You will all update me on anything important. Our main spy is due to meet us there with her report, and hopefully we will have Red Leader at our next location."

"I'll inform my crew at once and send those I think are decent enough to Norway." James took one last, questioning glance up at the roof where the noise had come from before crossing the road and leaving the meeting.

Anthony nodded and a few more members of the group trailed away, moving separately so as not to attract attention. "My men can handle research. We'll find anyone Red Leader was close to and send people there."

He left, too, accompanied by a couple of other men. Soon only Bella remained standing there with crossed arms.

"Where ever you are, Red Leader... The Burning Tygers will find you and give you what you deserve." She hissed to the night air, turning and stalking away down the road.

Tord and Ylva could finally breathe again. They both appeared paler than usual, although tried to hide their fear under a mask of confidence.

"Well... Now we know where to head next..."