Everything That Is Real (Comes Around)

Part Three

            Arthur woke early as the sun was barely coming up. The house was silent and he assumed everyone was still asleep. Carefully he eased out of bed so as not to wake Ariadne .He gathered some clothes from his bag and crept into the bathroom to change. As he changed from his pajamas to his familiar suit Arthur could not help but wonder what they were getting themselves into. He had had this same pit in his stomach feeling when they took on the initial Fischer job for Saito. That feeling that something was off about the entire enterprise and that somewhere along the line things were going to go horribly wrong. Using gel and water he slicked his hair back and straightened his clothes, standing tall and trying to keep everything in order.

            He took his phone off of the end table in the bedroom and walked out thankfully without waking Ariadne. In his other hand he held the card with a single phone number written on it. Even this business card gave away nothing about this man’s intentions. As he walked outside Arthur wondered if maybe they had pegged Fischer completely wrong during the inception. He had seemed like a halfway decent person and not someone who would use dirty tactics to get what he wanted. There had been a sense of urgency though when he seemed to accept that his father wanted him to be his own man but that did not seem like something that would cause him to use blackmail. At least not against the people he wanted to hire to work for him. When blackmail was involved it usually instilled a sense of resentment that could easily ruin a job.

            The backdoor to the yard was open and Arthur walked outside, closing it quietly behind him. Staring at the number for a bit longer he finally dialed it and waited as it rang a few times. By the third ring he was almost hopeful that the line would be disconnected and this whole thing would blow over. He could take Ariadne back to Rome and he would shut his phone off to jobs for a while and--

            “Hello, Arthur, I was wondering when you were going to call me back,” Jim's voice said on the other end; he sounded amused.

            “If I thought I had any other choice, believe me, I wouldn't have,” Arthur said, trying to keep his voice as even as possible.

            “I'm sure. I suppose this is the part where we get down to business since I'm assuming you going to LA suddenly was a sign of you running back to your master.” Jim's words hit a nerve that Arthur did not even know existed. He wanted to defend himself, say how wrong this stranger was, but he held his tongue. Professional, he was going to stay professional, even if this other man stooped to to petty insults.

            “Yes, this is the part where you tell me exactly what is going on,” he said and was surprised at how even his voice was despite the fact that he was angry.

            “Things like this cannot be said over the phone; you know that. We're going to have to meet again. I'm sure you're thrilled,” Jim said and Arthur ground his jaw a bit.

            “Ecstatic. I'm assuming you already have a location planned?” he asked and there was an extremely patronizing laugh on the other end of the line.

            “Of course, and I'm assuming you're going to come alone since you don't want your lady friend or Cobb to get in the middle if anything should get messy,” Jim said.

            “I'm glad we're both on the same wavelength,” Arthur replied and there was a pause on the other end; he thought for a moment they had been disconnected.

            “Never assume we're on the same wavelength, boy,” Jim warned and his patronizing tone was suddenly serious. “We're going to need a quieter place to talk. There is a cafe downtown called Lost Souls Cafe; be there at noon sharp and we'll discuss our next step in this agreement.” The line went dead and Arthur stood still for a moment calming himself down. Yusuf was in Mombasa and that travel time was nearly twenty six hours so he would not be arriving until late tonight. Eames was coming from London and the absolute earliest he would be able to get in would be around noon. There was no way he was going to risk Ariadne or Cobb's lives to go to this meeting. If there was anyone he would have been willing to go with it would have been Eames, despite how much he did not want to admit it, but it looked like he was on his own. The hardest part, he decided, was going to be convincing Ariadne and Cobb to stay behind.

            For the rest of the morning Arthur tried to hide the fact that he had made the phone call at all. When everyone woke up he gladly let Cobb and Miles make breakfast because he was still capable of ruining toast somehow. Ariadne emerged several hours later no doubt still suffering from jet lag. The severity of the situation made it hard for Arthur to even notice how exhausted he really was. Phillipa and James seemed to notice that he was not entirely with it and spent the entire morning showing Ariadne every part of the house. It was around ten thirty when Cobb caught his eye and gestured that they step outside. Standing, the two of them walked outside and closed the door to the porch.

            “So, did you call that guy?” Cobb asked and for half a second he contemplated lying.

            “Yes, early this morning,” Arthur replied and that earned him a nasty look from his former partner.

            “And why haven't you said anything?”

            “Because he wants to meet in person. There is no way I'll risk making those kids orphans or Ariadne--” Arthur cut himself off and cleared his throat. “—anyway, I'm going alone and I didn't want either of you to worry. At least not until I get more information. I need to go downtown anyway and find a spot for us to set up base camp.”

            “She isn't going to like you going alone again,” Cobb said crossing his arms across his chest and Arthur nodded.

            “I know she won’t but I just can’t have her with me while I meet with this guy. y. I've met a lot of point men in my day Cobb but this guy is something different. I don't know what it is about him but I think the only person who could see eye to eye with him is me.” There was a brief silence before Cobb nodded and tossed Arthur a set of car keys.

            “Downtown is going to be a mess as usual so you should leave soon,” Cobb said giving him a small nod before opening the door back to the house. Ariadne looked up from the pile of toys in front of her and looked at him quizzically but Arthur smiled at her.

            “Where are you going?” she asked.

            “Going to look for a space for us to work. I don't think you can design mazes with Phillipa wanting to braid your hair every ten minutes,” he lied flawlessly. Ariadne looked at him and he thought that perhaps she could see through his façade but she nodded and flashed a smile.

            “All right, have a good afternoon,” she said before turning back to the toys and keeping James occupied. Cobb walked him to the door before slipping him a 9MM, a belt holster and whispered that he needed to watch his back. Arthur did not say anything; he merely walked out the front door, checked the gun to see that it was loaded, clicked the safety into place, switched his belt with the belt holster, hid the gun safely away and climbed into the car. As Arthur drove away from the house he did not look back.

            The drive to downtown LA was annoying because if there was one thing Arthur could not stand it was people who were too wrapped up in themselves. This town was a crowning achievement of what happened when egos were left unchecked. He knew he was one of the best but it did not give him a sense of superiority. This was something he had made sure of over the years. When someone's ego got too big they tended to make mistakes. Arthur did not like making mistakes and he was going to do everything he could to make sure nothing on this job went wrong because he overlooked a piece of key information. Not again. The little cafe came into view and he found a decent place to park on the street, paying the outrageous parking meter fee. The gun was concealed but he did not make much of an effort to cover it as well as he could, though he did button up his jacket, because Jim would know he was armed the moment he saw him.

            Pushing the door open it took Arthur very little time to find Jim sitting in a corner reading a paper. It was not until he sat at the table that the older man looked over the edge of his reading before setting it aside. For a moment it seemed like Jim was sizing him up before he smiled.

            “On time, a little early even, I wouldn't expect anything less of you, Arthur,” Jim said leaning back in his chair. “I also thought you would enjoy the irony in this place's name.”

            “Last time I checked there was a job offer somewhere in these conversations,” Arthur said sick of playing this game. “So either explain what it is or I'll come back later when you're not feeling so flippant .” Jim's smile faded into a dark expression and now he was all business. Reaching into a bag he slid a folder across the table to Arthur. Inside there was a picture of an older woman with bright red hair and a wicked smile.

            “Her name is Susana Mitchell. She is the idea person of the company that she works for and there are rumors that she knows how to prevent Mr. Fischer's new company from being a success. Somewhere in her mind is a secret that might bring down my client’s entire company before it even starts. Mr. Fischer wants to know what that information is,” he said flatly. Arthur looked over the papers and discovered that this was not their usual sort of mark.

            “It says here that she shows signs of extreme paranoia and that she has a bodyguard with her at all times. She is highly trained in all aspects of keeping herself safe including martial arts, weapons and the threat of extraction.” He looked up at Jim and narrowed his eyes. “So you want us to go into the mind of a potentially unstable person whose subconscious is not only trained but whose mind might contain other hidden surprises.”

            “Mr. Fischer did not request I get the best for no reason,” Jim said leaning forward before looking rather malevolent. “Why does the setting matter? It's not like you have a choice.”

            “Does Fischer know this is how you do business?” Arthur asked and he creased his eyebrows . “My research shows that Robert Fischer is a man that usually does things by the book. You're not exactly living up to that standard.”

            “Don't worry about me, boy, you should focus on the task at hand,” Jim said laughing. “Not that it matters much; I did all of the work for you. All you need to do now is sit around and make it look like you're working.” He stood to leave. “Keep your phone on, we're going to need to meet again. After all, I'm sure you'll want to meet who you're working for.”

            “How do I even know you're going to keep the so-called 'leverage' you have on us to yourself after this?” Arthur said turning around in his chair. “I want to know what you have.”

            “Who are we talking about here, Arthur? You or some other member of your old team? There were rumors all over the world about some of the greatest doing something big and while I don't know what that is, I do have enough dirt from your previous jobs to keep you in check. And I guess you're just going to have to hope I uphold my end of the deal,” Jim said without turning around but Arthur was not going to let him walk away without more information. As he was standing to follow his eyes caught the discarded cup left on the table. When he looked over his shoulder again Jim was lost in the crowd. Taking a napkin he carefully picked the cup up and asked for a to-go bag from the desk. There were not many people that did not have their fingerprints somewhere on file.

            For the rest of the day Arthur went from place to place and tried to find a location where they could work in relatively quiet surroundings without someone in the city bothering them. What he finally ended up choosing was the top floor of an old office building. There was only one entrance that was off to the side in an alley. There was no way anyone could get the drop on them without alerting them to the intruder’s presence beforehand. The location for their work was probably the only thing he felt certain of. Arthur also knew as soon as he locked the door to the building that someone was waiting for him around the corner. He also had a pretty good guess of who it was so his gun was already in hand when Jim moved out of the shadows. They stood only a few feet apart with guns pointed at each other’s chest.

            “I thought we weren't on the same level and yet here we are,” Arthur said narrowing his eyes. “Give me one good reason not to shoot you right now.”

            “Aside from the fact that you'd die as well? How noble of you; that set of rules you live by is going to get you killed one of these days. Not everyone has a work ethic like you do,” Jim said but he did not smile despite the fact that his voice was mocking. “Now give me the coffee cup.”

            “You mean the one you left behind with your fingerprints all over it? I thought about just using the file but that's passed through too many hands. You and the sixteen year old who made you the coffee are the only one's who touched that cup. I don't think so,” Arthur replied holding the gun steady. “How are you going to tell Fischer that one of the people he hired to extract information is dead? I bet you won't get paid a dime.” The two of them stood at a stalemate for what felt like a long time. Any moment someone could come around the corner and see two people pointing guns at each other. Before long the cops would get involved and there would be no easy way out of that mess. The sound of another gun being cocked broke the silence.

            “I'd lower your weapon and take about three steps forward if I were you,” an all too familiar voice said as Eames eased Jim further into the alley. “You can drop your gun while you're at it.” The other man obliged but never broke eye contact with Arthur.

            “I've been doing this longer than you, I have more experience than you do and I do what needs to be done to get my information no matter what it takes. I'm the best and you should never forget that,” Jim said.

            “If you're the best why did Fischer ask you to hire me?” Arthur asked and he thought he saw a flinch like he had hit a nerve. The menacing glare that followed was all the confirmation he needed. Some line had been crossed and he was looking at an entirely different opponent.

            “You'd do best to run along now,” Eames said pushing Jim out of the alley and watching him disappear around a corner. “Well that might be the first time I've saved your ass, well, ever.”

            “I hardly needed saving,” Arthur muttered putting away his own gun and brushing by Eames but a strong hand grabbed his upper arm.

            “I hope you're not underestimating that man. He has the look of someone who has taken a life or two,” Eames said in a dark voice.

            “I'm going to find out exactly what we're dealing with and I'm going to take the steps needed. After I finish researching the mark I'm leaving the rest to all of you and I'll take care of that man,” Arthur said, pulling his arm away from Eames. “We have work to do, let's go.” He thought he heard Eames make some sort of comment behind his back but he ignored it.