Guns & Roses (Larry Stylinson)

Stitches

Chapter 7:

    I woke up the next morning to my phone ringing insistently. The first time it rang, I simply silenced it and sank back into my bed. The second time it rang, I silenced it once more, begging for sleep after having to spend my whole day before in a fucking flower shop from seven a.m. However, my phone rang a third time, and I shoved a pillow over myself, debating on whether I should smother myself or not. Finally, I groaned and reached blindly for my phone.

    I cracked my eyes open, and I saw Liam's name on the screen. He was our tech guy. He was great at tracking, hacking, and stalking the lives of anyone necessary. He was godly gifted with technology. We needed the best, and we got him. Still, that didn't excuse the fact that he interrupted my Saturday morning in.

    I answered the phone call and held the phone to my ear, closing my eyes again. "What?"

   "Zayn wanted me to call everyone and give out the small bit of information we've managed to gather on this other gang," Liam informed, and I was instantly sitting up in bed and opening my eyes. I could feel a small tingle in my toes at the possibility of the news. It's been a solid week since I've arrived in this town, and the only excitement was going shooting a couple of days ago. It was nothing compared to the rush this phone call gave me.

     "Well, spill! What did you find?"

    "The leader's name is someone known by the alias 'Plague.' From the few tips we've received, we know that they own several warehouses to hide their multiple operations. We're thinking it's somewhere southeast, but we're not entirely sure yet. The worst part is, they know that Zayn's taken an interest in them. They're aware of the fact that we're trying to find our everything about them, and they won't take lightly to that."

    "I don't understand why Zayn doesn't just ambush them before they can ambush us. It'd probably be easy. All he'd have to do is say the word, and I will volunteer to be head of that team."

    "It's a bit more complicated than that, Louis. If they have multiple hideouts, it could take a while to even pinpoint their exact location, especially if they jump around a lot. Plus, they have a few civilians giving them constant intel on any outside actions. They're the real deal. It's not just a band of guys and girls who call themselves a gang to sound tough."

    "We shouldn't be hiding from them. That shows we're afraid," I gritted out.

    "No, Louis, it shows that we're also smart and cautious. It shows them that we're just as hard to track and follow. I know you're used to going in, guns blazing, but we cannot do that this time. Do you understand?"

    "Don't fucking patronize me right now, Payne. This has probably been the worst week of my life. You know I'm not good at sitting around and waiting. That's your job with your high-tech computers and gadgets." I stood up from the bed and began to pace back and forth on the phone.

    "Then this is the perfect opportunity to get better at that skill because sitting and waiting is what's going to help us win."

    "That's another thing, why are we even fighting with this gang? What the hell even happened to get us into this situation?"

     It was something Zayn never clued us in on. The only thing he told us was that we were each being relocated to safe locations while we dealt with a new threat.

     "We're not entirely sure about that yet, either."

     I spun around quickly at the news and held the phone closer to my ear. "What? What the hell do you mean, Liam? This makes no fucking sense. We're hiding away from people who are pissed at us for no apparent reason?"