FALLIN' ALL IN YOU (Completed)

Chapter 118

Paris

Luke steps out of the taxi and puts on his shades. He surveys the surroundings and feels nothing much has changed since he was here four years ago. The blue slate top and white exterior of this building is pretty much the same as the rest of the buildings down the block.

Luke pulls his carry-on through the heavy wooden door and walks over to the death trap of an elevator. Normally, he would take the stairs even though it's six flights straight up. However, he's not too keen on the idea of lugging his carry-on up those narrow and old creaking stairs.

The elevator takes impossibly long, creeping one agonizingly slow floor at a time from the top. Suddenly, a couple of people in mid-conversation come out through the door of the stairways and head out of the building without even sparing a glance towards Luke's way. The elevator finally arrives and Luke gets into the tiny space that fits no more than maybe a second person. The French people aren't exactly a small breed, why they make their elevators, stairways, restrooms and such and such so freakin tight it's simply stupid.

Buzzzz. Buzzzz. Buzzzz.

"Coming!"

The old grey door of 606 opens revealing a disheveled half-naked man with a cigarette hanging from his lips. "Luke! You're early."

"Good to see you, Gabe. My flight landed early." Luke lies. He swapped for an earlier flight the moment a spot was available even though he had to pay for the change fee.

"Come in!" Gabe puts an arm around Luke's shoulders and pulls him inside. He hasn't seen his buddy in a while.

"Thanks for letting me stay. I really could have just stayed in a hotel."

"Nonsense. Every time you or Thak visit Paris, you guys are on duty and I can only see you guys at those fancy-schmancy lounges for a little bit and then you guys can't even have a drink. So this is nice for a change. And I've already laid your bed out for you."

Luke nods with a little smile. Gabe has always been the friendliest of the bunch of knuckleheads Luke had met in the military. Gabe was the youngest of their batch so he was pushed around a lot. He was also on the smaller side compared to the rest. How he became the beast that he is now is a complete mystery. Luke and Thak used to sit on top of the poor kid just to let one rip. Ah, the good old days. Gabe is a halfie, being half Thai and half French. He moved to Paris when his father wasn't feeling well and needed him to take over the business. It's been almost ten years since Gabe has left Thailand.

***Gabe***

"So, were you able to locate the target for me?" Luke asks as he sits down on the sofa and looks around the tiny studio. His air mattress makeshift bed is only a few feet away from them. Paris is one of those over-glorified cities that's only nice to visit but terrible to live in. Luke swears why Parisians like to sit in those open cafes with seats facing the streets for hours a day is because no one wants to stay inside their damn overpriced shoebox of an apartment that costs eighty percent of their monthly salary.