Fic: Of Family, Favours and Dreams part 2
Part 2
My father always said that women and business do not good bedfellows make.
I never used to believe him, but that's only because my only experiencing of mixing women and work was Mal. Mal who'd grown up in the business, Mal who could run a deal as well as, if not better than her father and twist mafia dons around her little finger whilst remaining the picture of demure feminine perfection.
I was beginning to see his point now, however. Ariadne refused to let her curiosity go, at first asking in round about ways what we were doing, then more directly when it became clear that wasn't going to work. She was sweet and charming, but really once she got an idea into her head she was like a dog with a bone. Worrying it until it gave, refusing to let it go.
Maybe it was a testament to her smarts that she figured it all out, pretty much, before I actually got round to telling her. After that there wasn't much reason not to bring her in, if nothing else Arthur needed someone to help him keep all his paperwork in order and there were always little things to do in these sorts of jobs, odds and ends.
I wasn't expecting her to take much more of a role than that though.
Sometimes I think Arthur had the right idea about women.
“Browning is a no go, at least on initial approach. He's utterly loyal to the family, not to mention a teetotaller and married to the job. Worse, he loves Fischer Jnr like a son and indulges him in a way his father doesn't. I can't see us being able to turn him in the time available,” Arthur finished his assessment with a note of finality in his words.
For the past week, Arthur and Eames had been on information gathering duties, talking to any contacts they could find, observing the marks at any chance they could get, all the time probing, trying to find a weakness they could exploit. There always was one, in Cobb's experience, and it was usually just a question of locating it.
“Our dear Robert Fischer Jnr is another matter altogether.” Eames took over from him with a flourish, metaphorically taking the centre stage with ease, “Drink, drugs, sex, gambling, he's done it all. Rumour has it that this has caused more than a few tensions with daddy-dearest. He's not stupid however, he's ruthless and cunning as you'd expect from someone in his position, but thankfully with more than a few cracks to exploit.”
“Sounds like you have a plan?” Cobb prompted him, hearing the underlying excitement in the forger’s voice.
Eames nodded, the start of a smug grin seeping into his expression, “As it so happens, I do. Since Fischer has daddy-issues and people always get more emotional when it comes to deep-seated anxieties, we can use the relationship with the father as a wedge.”
He got up as he spoke, making his way over the old school blackboard that Arthur has somehow acquired and set up in the corner of the room, “First stage we plant the idea, 'My godfather is not as trustworthy as I thought he was', we can plant a few rumours, an idea here and there. It doesn't have to be believable but it needs to make him think about the possibility. Prime him, so to speak. Second stage, we reinforce it with the idea, 'My father wants my godfather to take over instead of me'. This is where my own particular talents come in. We plant a false paper trail, a hidden will from his father, instructions to his lieutenants as to who to support.”
“If he thinks his father is the villains he's more likely to believe it,” Cobb agreed.
“Exactly. Finally stage three, Browning needs to be convinced that his godson is not fit to take over. For this we'll need someone on the inside, close to enough to Browning to convince him. I personally suggest yours truly since the both of you are somewhat too well know but that's a point we can deal with later. By this point the paranoia, thanks to Yusuf’s special somethings, should be in full blow, so it's not too big a leap for a man so loyal to the organisation. Which leads to the cumulation of, 'My godfather is plotting against me'. Which of course, by that point he would be. Then we let nature, so to speak, take its course.” The forger finished with a flourish.
“Eames, I'm impressed,” Arthur's smirk as he spoke belied the words. .
“You condescension, as always Arthur, is much appreciated”
The two of them seemed to be involved in a silent exchange for a moment, before Arthur shook his head and turned back to the rest of the room. “Still doesn't solve how we plant the idea in the first place? Rumours are all very well, but if he can trace back the ideas to an external source he may get suspicious that someone was trying to play him.”
“What about a girl?” Ariadne spoke up suddenly for the corner where she'd been taking notes.
The interruption caught Cobb by surprise, “What?”
“Well, no one ever suspects a girl, not if she seems to be sweet and innocent to begin with.” Ariadne continued, quickly, “You see if all the time, guys seem to believe stuff from the girls they're carrying on with they'd never believe from anyone else. I mean he may dismiss it first off, but this is about making him think it’s possible not make the idea actually take, right?”
“Pillow talk is certainly a classic when it comes to getting ideas into a blokes head. History is built after all on powerful women getting their husbands to do things they don't want to. ‘Course, doesn't always work, but it's certainly worth a shot.” For some reason Eames was looking straight at Arthur as he said this last earning him a brief glare in return which Cobb didn't dare try to decipher. Eames shrugged and continued more lightly “And it will also solve the slight issue of chemical delivery without all that awkward business of bribing his dealer and the like.”
Arthur frowned down at his notes, disapproval clearly showing on his face, “I suppose it could work. He broke up with his last girl about a week ago, he's been carrying on with different girls since, but nothing steady. We need to find an appropriate girl though”
Ariadne coughed slightly to get their attention before saying, “Well, I thought I could do it.”
Cobb frowned, uncertain how far he really wanted to drag her into this, “You sure about this? You realise what this is going to entail?”
“Look, I know you may think I'm this naïve young girl, but before I was doing this I was working at the Inception club. I know how this thing works.” Cobb had known this already, had known this since she'd started working for him, but he hadn't quite processed exactly what that would have meant. Of course she's know how to deal with men, Inception was an exclusive private members club Miles ran, the girls were hardly there just to serve drinks.
Eames shook his head, “Fischer may sleep with club girls, but he likes to date 'good' girls, middle class kids from good families, think you can handle that pet?”
“Please, there isn't a guy around who can resist my charms,” Ariadne dismissed his concerns. Cobb figured it would be unfair to point out that Arthur was clearly an exception to this, despite her overt attempts to entice him to her bed. Although, given the concerned frown on his friends face, maybe the charm had worked, even if it wasn't quite how she was hoping.
Still, Arthur didn't offer any more objections, just giving a resigned nod when Cobb looked at him. Eames similarly nodded his silent approval, whilst Yusuf gave a ‘not my concern’ shrug. “We're agreed then.” Cobb announced. They had a plan. It may have needed fleshing out still, but they had a clear direction. He felt for the first time during the whole job that they might have a chance.
It worked.
Despite all my concerns about whether the idea would, could, possibly take, that wasn't actually the hard part.
Fischer had swallowed the idea of betrayal up with barely a question, Ariadne playing her part of the innocently concerned girlfriend perfectly. She'd had him wrapped around her little finger, or so she insisted on telling me. Of course, the drugs Yusuf was producing, which she switched with Fischer's own stash, might have also had something to do with it.
Eames played his part as the consummate professional, infiltrating the organisation, getting close to the godfather, distracting and manipulating even as Arthur worked in the background to ease the way, ensure the evidence was planted in the right place, the right men were bribed and the wrong ones silenced.
But inevitably, no matter how good everyone was, no matter how well people played their parts, something inevitably went wrong.
I don't know how I missed it. It may have been that I was distracted by the thought of returning home to Mal, her image haunting my dreams now that the prospect was so close, repeating the words she'd said to me just before I left, when I'd told her my fears about never making it home.
She'd told me then, 'You keep telling yourself what you know, but what is it you believe? I believe in my heart you'll make it back. Because we love each other, Dom'.
I didn't see it coming. Arthur didn't see it coming, and this sort of thing was his job.
Turns out that the trouble wasn't getting the idea in the first place, the trouble was keeping it under control long enough for the problem to turn into a civil war, rather than a short trip to the mad-house, or the grave.
Cobb looked up as the door to the house burst open, tensing, ready to act. Out of the corner of his eyes he could see Arthur already on his feet, gun in hand, ready to deal with whatever threat had just entered their domain.
It was Ariadne. She froze at the sight of the gun in Arthur's hand and was just standing in the doorway, trying to catch her breath.
“Ariadne? What's wrong?” Cobb asked her quickly. He moved to shut the door in case anyone had followed her and looked at her with concern. There was little doubt by her entrance that it couldn't have been good news.
“Fischer... he's … gone off … the deep end” She gasped out in between breaths, clearly unused to running as fast as she had. Cobb idly wonders if she'd run all the way here from Fischer's place, it was over three miles.
“Are you ok? Did he hurt you?” Arthur had holstered his gun by this point and had moved to stand awkwardly by her side in what was probably meant to be a comforting gesture. He was clearly unused and uncomfortable to dealing with a distressed girl despite the concern in his voice.
“I'm fine, it's Browning you've got to worry about,” Ariadne dismissed the concern, finally getting her breathing under control. “Fischer was ranting and raving about his traitorous godfather, then he stormed out the club taking a bunch of his thugs with him, swearing that he was going to deal with the problem once and for all. I think he's going to kill Browning.”
“Fuck,” Arthur summed the situation up neatly.
Cobb could feel the frustration welling up inside, this was a disaster. If Fischer killed Browning, then there wouldn't be anyone to opposed him, he'd take over the family with ease. Sure, he'd probably run it into the ground on his own, but that would take too long. “It's too early for this, we're not ready.” He turned on Arthur, because he should have seen this coming “How did we not know Fischer was this mentally unstable. This was your responsibility, we're not prepared for this.”
Arthur's face hardened, but not before a brief flash of hurt, and Cobb would feel guilty about this later, because this wasn't his fault at all, there was no way he could have known Fischer would react like this. He was however, a convenient outlet for Cobb's frustration, one he knew wouldn't complain, even as he took the criticisms to heart.
“Cobb,” he put up his hands placating, “We can deal with it; we've dealt with stuff like this before. They won't have killed him at his house, even Fischer's not that stupid. They'll take him somewhere. That’ll gives us time.”
Cobb took a deep breath. He could hear the underlying argument that Arthur didn't dare voice, 'we have no choice', there was no way they could back out now. He tried to order his thoughts, Arthur was right, they would deal with this. They had to. “Ariadne, do you know where they might have taken him?”
“Um,” Ariadne paused thinking a bit, obviously playing back the scene in her head, “Fischer told some of his thugs to meet him down near the East side docks?”
“Fischer-Morrow has a warehouse there, Chambers Street” Arthur grabbed a file out of the pile he'd been working through, hope starting to colour his voice.
Feeling more in control, Cobb snapped out orders, “Right, go grab Eames and Yusuf and meet me at the corner of 12th and Chambers as soon as possible.” The final two members of the team were at Yusuf's workshop, it was 10 minutes drive but Arthur could probably do it in 5 on his bike if he was willing to take the traffic violations. Then another 20 minutes to get down to the docks, Cobb just had to hope that Fischer wasn't planning on making his retribution quick. “Ariadne you stay here.”
“I'm coming with you! There's no way you're side-lining me now” Ariadne protested immediately.
Cobb considered arguing with her, but he recognised the stubborn set of her jaw. Arguing would take time they really didn't have. So instead he sighed, “Fine, but you're staying in the car.”
++++
Cobb watched the tableau below him through one of the grimy windows of the warehouse. There was a half broken fire-escape running up the side, which he used to gain his current vantage point. There were guards posted around the inside of the warehouse, thugs in dark suits looming in the shadows, a clear show of force.
But except for one guy leaning against the front door down the left hand side of the warehouse, there was no one on the outside. Fischer was clearly over-confident in his own security, which meant at least one thing in this whole mess was working to Cobb’s advantage.
As he peered into the gloom, he could see Browning chained up to the small grimy sink in what was once the office of the warehouse, roof long gone to the mists of time.
Fischer was pacing in front of him, his voice carrying clearly, echoing off the acoustics of the warehouse. He was ranting about something, about his father, about Browning, about the things they'd apparently been keeping from him. They'd all done their job well; there was no doubt in his voice that Browning had betrayed him.
Eventually he stopped, kneeling down to eye-level with his godfather, asking in a low, clear voice, “Tell me. What is in the safe?”
Cobb could see Browning shift to look at him, a resigned, tired set to his shoulders that sent chills down Cobb's spine. They couldn't have Browning give up now, not after everything they'd gone through. He had to strain to hear the next words, the beginning swallowed up by the space between them, “He always said it was his greatest gift to you. Maurice loved you Robert, in his own way.”
“Their security around here is a joke,” Cobb started at Arthur's voice behind him, jerking him out of his reverie. How he'd managed to sneak up the rusty ladder without him hearing he'd never know.
He glanced back down into the warehouse, but Fischer was back into ranting mode, clearly not happy with Borwning's response. The mood had shifted, becoming more ugly than before, and Cobb knew they didn't have much time. Gesturing for Arthur to follow him, they headed back down to the ground where Eames and Yusuf were pulling canisters off the back of Yusuf's flat-bed truck.
“Smoke canisters,” Arthur explained, “Confuse the muscle and give us a chance to get Browning out without being recognised.” He paused briefly, clearly thinking through the plan for possible errors or failings, before continuing. “The smoke will attract attention, someone's bound to call in a fire, so we use that to our advantage, ensure they're all too busy running away to chase us down and escape in the confusion. Me and Eames will hit the back.”
“Whilst I cause a distraction at the front.” Cobb finished, falling back into familiar patterns of working. He may have been the planner, but he let Arthur take the lead on tactical matters. Despite the tendency to ensure there were Plans A through D before hand, he was more than capable of pulling off the impossible and creating a Plan Z on the fly. So much that Cobb was pretty sure that if his friend was landed in a situation without gravity, he'd still somehow manage to cobble together a way to make people fall.
“Ariadne, give us five minutes after we go in, then go to the pay phone down the road and call the 911.” Arthur ordered, already picking up his gun and a pair of canisters, handing one off to Eames and keeping one for himself before starting to job off to his position.
“What do I tell them?” Ariadne called after him.
“Tell them to truth, love,” Eames answered for the point man with a grin, “That you saw smoke coming out of a warehouse on Chambers Street,” then headed off to the back of the warehouse himself. As they went Cobb could swear he heard Eames tell the other man, 'I do love it when you start giving orders darling'.
He shook his head with a smile, and headed off round the front, Yusuf and smoke canisters in tow.
Time to cause a distraction.
++++
There was smoke and sirens everywhere by the time Cobb made it out the warehouse. Fischer's men, already in disarray from the smoke, had scattered when the police and fire-service made their approach clear.
He'd taken the sound as his own cue to leave and heading out to the agreed meeting spot a block down. However, he'd barely passed two of the adjacent warehouses before he spotted them, Eames leaning against the wall, Arthur half-kneeling next to him, half-holding him up.
“What happened?” Cobb asked as he got closer.
“Browning got away safe, he's vowing lasting revenge on Fischer as we speak.” Eames grinned up at him from where he was leaning against the wall. His smirk was victorious, but there was real pain creeping into the edges of voice.
“Shut up, you idiot, and keep still,” Arthur admonished him, concern, almost panic, underlying his voice, a strange expression on the normally stoic point man. As Cobb got closer, the source of Arthur's concern become clear as he saw the red stain starting to spread across the forger's shirt, telling its own story of what happened in the chaos of the warehouse.
“It's just a graze, darling. I'll be fine.” Eames tried to push the younger man's hands off as he spoke, but the way he staggered as he tried to stand showed the lie in his words and he collapsed against the wall again.
Arthur ignored his protestations, pressing his jacket against his chest to stop the bleeding. “I need to get him medical attention.” He told Cobb as he conducted the ministrations.
“There's Doc White, down on West Avenue, he owes me a favour. We can get him there in ten minutes.” Cobb suggested but Arthur was shaking his head before he even finished speaking.
He finally turned to look at Cobb, fixing him with a sharp gaze that said far more than he words ever could. “It's too dangerous, we need to split. I'll take him myself.” He paused briefly, before seeming to come to a decision, “You go, clean out the house, I'll catch you up at the airport.”
Cobb nodded slowly, “If you're sure?”
“I'm sure. Go.”
Cobb went, heading out towards the meeting point where Ariadne would be waiting with the car.
Somehow he knew, even as he left, that it would be the last time he saw Arthur, that the point man wouldn't be at the airport waiting for him as he headed back East. It was something in the way he'd been looking at Eames. It was the same look Cobb had seen in the mirror during those long hours at the hospital when he'd come so close to loosing her as she bore his first child. There was no way Arthur would be leaving Eames now.
They say home is where the heart is. My heart was out East. With Mal.
I got home on Miles birthday, it wasn't planned like that, it just happened. I hadn't truly believing that it was happening until I got on the plane. No, not even then, it was when I was driving down the road towards my house without even a glimmer of a tail that it started to sink in. I hadn't exactly hidden my return; if Cobol had wanted they could have gotten to me easy. Especially now, now I was alone. But they didn't.
Seems Saito had kept his end of the bargain.
There was a party happening when I pulled up to the house, and it became clear as I got closer that this was at least partly in my honour. The Happy Birthday banners battled with Welcome Home signs across the yard. It was strangely touching, if I'd stopped to think about it, but in truth I didn't give it much thought at the time. There was only one thing I was thinking about then.
Mal.
I finally found her in the largest group of people, much as I'd expected her to. I took a moment to admire her. It always astounded me how she managed to do that, to move so effortlessly between people. Then she turned around and took my breath away. She looked even more gorgeous than I remembered her, elegant and perfect in a long black, sequinned, dress.
The sight was like a balm to my soul. How could my imagination have ever captured all her perfections, all her imperfections. It could never be close to the real thing.
I wondered, as I held her, savoured the feel of her, whether this was what Arthur was feeling. Wherever he was, if being with Eames was making him this happy? I'd heard that Eames was still alive and kicking somewhere, rumours of his demise notwithstanding, the two of them on the run together in foreign climes.
I just hoped I could buy Arthur the time for the two of them to disappear fully once the inevitable questions started. I owed him that much.
After all, he was family.
The End