Part 3

▶ NOW PLAYING: Egyptian Reggae - Jonathan Richman, The Modern Lovers

They're late.

The rendezvous spot was on the local docks. The air smelled of oil and fish guts, which was pleasant on the senses. I had pulled up at precisely 10:00am to find that the only person there was Doc.

I stepped out of the car. Doc looked around at me, and then at the car.

"That's the car you got?"

I looked back at it. Figuring that since we were doing something that we have never done before, I figured that we needed a strong, versatile car that we could rely on. So, I had gotten a nice family van, a Ford Tarago. Seven seater. Plenty of space for people, bodies, cash and goods.

"Where's the others?"

I turned back to Doc to see his reaction to the question. He scoffed.

"I knew that they would be late. They make an effort to. The proper rendezvous is at 10:30, so I gave them space to be late."

"But you knew I would be on time."

"Yes. I did." Doc put out a cigarette he had been dragging and flicked it across his shoulder, right into the water behind him. He walked up towards me.

"Which gives me ample time to discuss the drama that happened yesterday." He looked at me questioningly.

I said nothing.

"How do you know Prince?"

My face didn't move a muscle.

He pondered my expression for a few moments more before sighing a turning away.

"Y'know," he said, lighting another cigarette, "if you two have a history, it is severly going to complex this mission."

There was a beat of silence.

"You should really quit y'know." I said, eyeing his cig.

He offhandedly waved me off.

"Yeah, yeah I know. The missus keeps telling me, scared of getting second-hand smoke and all that."

Another beat of silence.

"How is she?"

"Oh she's good. She's happy because she started the course in hairdressing. Thinks she can open up her own salon."

"Can she?"

"God no. You seen the way she puts it up. Its like she gave the dryer to a monkey and let it take a shit in it."

I chuckled.

Another beat.

"How's your son?"

I sighed and said, "You know he's not my son."

"Yeah, yeah, I know but the way I see you talk to him makes it seem like he's yours."

"He's not."

Doc chuckled. "Sure kid. Well, if he's not yours, then who is hes?"

Another beat.

"A friends."

Doc must've sensed the 'please stop talking' vibe I was trying to give out and dropped the subject. Until a few seconds later.

He sighed and turned to look at me. "Kid, you know how dangerous this job is. That any of us can drop dead at any second. That is why it is vital to know about any past connections. It slows us down."

I looked away.

"So,for example, let's say that you know this fella, Prince, personally. You're both doing your thing, you driving around and him being the asshole that he is, and then oh no poor little Princey gets shot and fatally wounded and then you, knowing him personally, goes 'oh no not Princey!' and now you're crying over his corpse and can't drive us out of the scene and we all get shot too."

Never catch me crying over Malfoy's corpse.

"So, I'm going to ask again. Do you know Prince?"

I thought of Malfoy's face yesterday. How he smirked knowingly in my direction. Fucking Malfoy, who could ruin everything that I had tried to build here, things like a stable identity, a safe space for Teddy, an escape from the hell which was back home, just by saying the wrong thing.

"As I said yesterday, I've never seen him before in my life. Even if I did, it wouldn't affect me, because he's not coming on the job."

"Well, actually-"

At that moment, we both heard the telltale click-clack of heels behind us. We turned and saw that Darling and Buddy had decided to grace us with their presence. They both were dressed in dark clothing and carried some sort of assault weapon.

"Sorry we're late boys." She said. Was that a lollipop? "We got caught up."

In the distance, sirens.

Doc pinched the bridge of his nose. "I swear to god I'm going to…" The last part was obscured by sound of her heels approaching the car. She looked at it, her head tilted.

"That's the car we got?"

We all looked at the Tarago. Then at me.

"It's versatile." I deadpanned. She rolled her eyes and turned to Doc.

"So...let's just say that I wasn't paying attention yesterday and…"

Doc sighed, obviously out of patience, and whipped out his phone. "Griff isn't coming by the way." He said to nobody in particular. "Something came up." He put away his phone.

"Since some of us were not paying attention yesterday, I'll do a revision lecture since apparently this is a good use of the small window of time we have. At 11am, a cruise liner will pull up into the dock alongside this one. On the cruise ship, is Roman Hall's private assistant Abigail Loncester. Our mission is to steal her laptop, which contains information which our hirer would like to obtain."

I bet Malfoy doesn't even know how to call a landline let alone operate a laptop.

"Unfortunately, somebody, who will remain nameless and who is conveniently not on this mission anymore, tipped off Hall and now the laptop has triple the security that it had yesterday. Yesterday, the laptop would've been on a table somewhere in her suite, but today, thanks to our little friend, the laptop is now being kept in the cargo hold of the ship and being guarded by multiple armed men."

"This is way out of our depth." Buddy whispered to Darling.

"Also unfortunately, the ship docking here is only for a layover, so the ship will only be here for 30 minutes. So, Buddy and Darling, it is your job to get into the ship and retrieve the laptop and bring it back here."

"So why am I here?" I asked.

"Because these people can't do stealth and I know for a fact that they will incite some kind of skirmish. We need a quick and discreet getaway, so actually the car is a great choice."

The group pondered this for a few seconds.

"What are you going to do?" I asked Doc.

"Roman's coming over at 11:30 to collect the laptop, so I'm gonna go and pull a few favors to try and divert the convoy."

"And what's the penalty for this?" Darling asked.

"The penalty?" Doc questioned.

"Y'know, how many months in the house?"

"Honey you shouldn't be worrying about the police. If Roman discovers that you were the one to steal it, he'll kill you on sight."

Darling was silent.

"What's even on the laptop that's so important?" Buddy asked.

"That's none of your beeswax." The telltale drawl of his snivellish voice came from somewhere behind me. Oh hell no.

"What the hell is here doing here?" Buddy yelled, and I silently thanked him for expressing my own frustrations.

"I have decided to join your little crusade." Malfoy walked up beside me and conveniently stood within stabbing distance. "I'm interested in how the hired help operates."

We all looked at Doc for confirmation that this insane idea was actually happening. He just shrugged his shoulders. "He's the one paying. Anything goes."

"You can't be serious. He'll ruin the entire stealth operation, looking like a female Gaga!" Darling exclaimed, gesturing to the obscene number Malfoy was sporting today, consisting of a slytherin green tie and velvet coat. Blue lipstick as well.

Malfoy looked at her, aghast. "Oh no, Darling. I will not be joining you in your adventure. Far to treacherous. These shoes are Gucci and I can't risk walking on something as common as a boat. It might ruin them."

"What are you planning on doing then?" Buddy asked gruffly.

"Oh I dunno…" Malfoy looked down at his perfectly manicured nails. "Suppose I could…"

He looked up at me and looked me directly in the eyes, despite my sunglasses blocking them.

"...wait in the car."

A/N

I meant it when i said i wont update for a year. Sorry i stopped writing, i didnt have the energy to develop this particular story. But im writing a lot more these days cause i finished my hsc but ive got post-hsc depression rn that manifesting in creative purposeless so the only way i feel fulfilled in a day is if i do something creative. So yeah probs more writing cause my drawings shit and i dont have a laptop to make videos

So im gonna keep trying to write this. Tbh ive never written something like this and only just realised thats its turned into a spy thing instead of a crime thing but whatever. Im planning on writing some dr who stuff too tho so keep a lookout for that.

Thanks for the reviews about updating, im trying my best. Contructive critisism is def accepted.

~archer