Whispers

“On my command, you can go,” Niall said, looking at his iPad. Four different squares were showing footage on it. His blue eyes were attached to it, watching closely to the movements of the people on the screen. They were private cameras, hacked into by Niall. Rae was beginning to realize that Niall was worth more than just working at a Mac store. “You’ve got a short response time if you get the cops called. Work fast.”

“This is so illegal,” Liam whispered, looking out the window. It was raining outside. They were parked outside of multiple warehouses rested on the docks of the Thames. “If we get arrested, I’m killing all of you.”

Harry laughed without humor. He put a beanie on his head, leaning from the back seat to squeeze Liam’s shoulders in the passenger seat. Louis looked mildly annoyed in the drivers seat, glancing at Harry. “We don’t get arrested. Worst case scenario is that we get shot.”

“Yeah,” Louis muttered. “Worst case scenario.”

Rae wasn’t sure how anyone could find amusement in what they were doing. Their group of friends had prepared for something like this for a while, but it seemed strange, that Rae was sitting in a car, preparing to sabotage a giant shipment of Leon’s drugs. Not only was it extremely illegal, but they weren’t armed. They weren’t about to harm anyone in the destruction of Leon’s business.

Liam, Louis, Niall, Rae and Harry were all in one car, looking uneasily at the building. The parking lot was filled with a few cars, theirs just as nondescript and unassuming as the others. Trystan, Zayn and a cousin of Zayn’s were on a boat in the harbor, waiting patiently for the signal that Louis was supposed to give. It was all extremely elaborate, stupid and dangerous. But it wasn’t a horrible plan.

“Go!” Niall shouted suddenly. Rae made a face as she jumped out of the car, hurrying her way across the parking lot. She was dressed in all black like someone out of a cheesy action movie.

Adrenaline pumped through Rae’s veins. She felt like her entire body was singing as she tore across the parking lot towards the docks. When her pounding feet hit the wood, she slide down behind a large mound of crates, skidding to a stop. She was breathing hard as she looked around the box, seeing Harry climbing his way to the top of several cargo boxes. Liam and Louis had both vanished entirely.

It felt like her heart was going to come out of her chest. She had read countless books that describe the feeling of adrenaline but Rae had never felt anything like this. It was like her entire ribcage had become a cavern from which a drum was relentlessly beating. Her hands got quakes of shaking followed by a sudden calm, only to repeat the process.

Trying to steady her breathing, she looked at her watch, pressing the light function. A blue glow lit the screen of the watch. It was too big for her wrist, pulled half way up her arm because it was Harry’s. It was eleven o’clock on the dot. On exact time, she heard the approach of a boat. Peering around the side of the crates, she saw it approaching.

Every second that went by felt like a moment Rae needed to take to throw up. but she didn’t, pressing her back into the crate. As she waited for the boat to arrive on the dock, she thought about the moon. She could see it hanging in the sky, the edge of it blurred by thin clouds.

Water lapping against the dock and the sound of the engine shutting off told her to move. Quickly and quietly, she slipped around the crates, darting low and like a bullet across the open space and jumping onto an empty boat. It was a tour boat, very large and filled with rows and rows of seats. She crouched low, watching as several men got off the boat and walked to the warehouse.

When the other boat was empty, she counted to five and slipped to the edge of the boat, standing up on it and facing the harbor. From her pocket, she pulled out one of Niall’s laser pointers, flashing it across the water three times before clicking it off entirely and hurrying back to the dock, pulling herself off.

Running down the dock, she kept looking at the door of the warehouse, where the men had vanished. It remained shut. Liam was already on the boat, hauling boxes off of the boat and shoving them onto the dock. Rae started grabbing them to, squeaking when she realized how heavy they were. They were solid wooden crates, a standard size but extremely heavy. She could barely move one, putting it on the dock.

“Don’t hurt yourself there,” Liam joked, grabbing his fifth one and shoving it on the dock. Rae could hear the approach of another boat, peering over the side of it as Trystans blonde head popped up, the girl standing on the bow of the boat, rope in hand. “Harry will kill me if you break an arm.”

“Why was I on loading duty again?”

“Because,” he grunted, handing her a box. She teetered under the weight of it, moving it to the dock. She kept glancing at the roof top of the warehouse, knowing Harry was running around somewhere up there, following Niall’s directions as he required the alarm system in the warehouse, which Louis had assured was filled to the brim with paraphernalia. “The farther away you are from the warehouse itself, the better.”

Rae’s arms were already sore. Trystan swung into the boat, picking up a box that Rae was struggling with, flashing her a smile from around it. “Harry’s words?”

“Everyone’s words,” Zayn supplied, messing up her hair as he swung down. He turned around, taking boxes from his cousin that he was handing him. They soon began replacing the previous boxes with new ones. “You and Trystan are lucky you’re even here. Niall is the one who insisted you had a right.”

“Niall is smart.”

Zayn chuckled, handing Rae a box to stack. “Niall knows better, is more like it.”

“Niall is smart,” Trystan repeated, taking boxes from their boat and handing them to Liam.

Sweat dripped down Rae’s back when they were done. Swinging herself out the boat and onto the one that Zayn’s cousin owned, she looked into the darkness. She took out the laser pointer again, flashing towards the building. She waited anxiously, biting her lip as she looked all over the warehouse for a sign of Harry. A red flash of light flash in the darkness three times, moving along the bottom of the warehouse. So he was back on the ground.

Zayn pat Rae on the back, smiling happily as he turned around, his cousin turning the boat on and hitting the throttle. It launched forward, having trouble at first from the weight of all the crates. Rae grinned happily, realizing that for the first time, something went right. She tried not to get too excited, knowing it could go wrong at any second.

Standing at the stern, she watched the warehouse. Over the dull roar of the motor on the boat, she could hear the alarm going of. It was piercing and loud. The headlights of the rented car flashed as it left the parking lot. Trystan laced her fingers with Rae, giving them a squeeze. Rae returned it.

They drove out of the harbor and down the river a way before they reached a channel. It was empty, too late at night for anyone but a casual passerby. The boat was put in mutual and together, all of the passengers began tying weights on the boxes, making sure that they would sink, and shoved them off.

Satisfaction rose in Rae as the cargo sank down. She had no idea what kind of drugs were in them, but she didn’t care. She didn’t want them and she didn’t want them in Leon’s possession, not if it ruined his business. She would break him down and then kick him when he was down.

Sitting on the side of the boat, she looked at the dark, churning water. When they pulled into docks that the boat belonged to, she hopped out of the boat. Harry was standing there, scooping her up into his arms, pressing a kiss to her forehead. She laughed lightly, squeezing him around the middle.

“We were like Mr. and Mrs. Smith,” he teased her, pulling away but not letting her go. He kept his hands loosely around her waist. She played with the hem of his beanie at the top of his neck, winding her fingers in it. “When did we become proper bad asses?”

“For the most part, I always was,” Rae insisted. He looked at her doubtfully. “Remember that time I kicked Sean’s at that rave? Granted, I had the element of surprise. But I still managed to beat him up quite a bit.”

Harry’s expression was uncomfortable. Neither one of them said it, but Rae had beat Sean up because he was attempting to get Harry back on drugs with the temptation of girls doing lines off of Harry’s stomach. She never admit it, but that image often haunted Rae. “I suppose you did do that. And you knocked out Finn.”

“That was mostly the chair piece I used.”

He kissed her nose. “My girlfriend is a bad ass.”

“Come on, bad ass,” Louis called. He had Trystan under won of his arms as he clapped Niall on the back with his other hand. “Let’s get the fuck home.”

“Yeah, you wouldn’t want to get bad sleep.” Rae paused, looking down the dock at the voice. Her grip on Harry tightened as someone she didn’t know stepped forward into a shaft of moonlight. Harry swiveled so that Rae was standing behind her. “Alright, Harry?”

“Anderson,” Harry said unemotionally. “What are you doing here?”

“I just happened to be checkin on my boat, mate.” The man was tall with black hair and dark eyes. He was completely unfamiliar to Rae, but from the tension thrumming through Harry’s body, she knew that something wasn’t right. “Now what are you lot doing, dressed in all black nonetheless? Midnight right, eh?”

Harry didn’t respond. Anderson, as Harry called him, grinned. “Let’s talk a little business, Hazza.”