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Everything was supposed to be easy and there should have been no problems but, as it usually happened in William’s line of work, things turned out differently. He was taught that things always could go sideways, but for some reason he didn’t expect to be attacked by a group of martial artists. No one mentioned the possibility of anything like that happening during the briefing, and William wondered if Victoria or Frank were aware of the unexpected guests.William managed to hide behind a concrete wall that seemed to separate the main part of the factory he was in from the corridor that led to various offices and a conference room.Trying to calm down, he leaned against the wall so that he could hear the guards, since William assumed they were guards, if they ended up getting too close to him. He was aware that there was a chance that if his opponents knew martial arts, they would also know how to move soundlessly, too, but it was not like he had any other choice. He had to try to find a more secure place to hide.Moving wasn’t easy when one had a stab wound in his thigh and in his left forearm, but William somehow managed to find an unlocked room, which turned out to be a small office with a desk, a few cabinets and a bookcase. Sadly, none of those things could help him, unless he planned to barricade himself in the room, which was not something he wanted to do. Besides, he had to take into consideration the small window that was overlooking the corridor.The whole building was observed, at least according to what Victoria and Marvin had found out, so William’s chances of getting out undiscovered were very slim, especially since he was injured. Damn it all. While he had managed to dress the wounds with a few pieces of cloth he had found on the way, they weren’t helping much, and he was leaving bloody traces everywhere. Even if they were fairly small, they made it very easy to find him, if someone happened to pay close attention to the floor.Fuck it all.He really hoped Marvin or Sarah managed to track him down before his phone had been destroyed.William had no idea how the guards had found out that he would be in the factory, or what he was planning, but that had to wait. Marvin could find out later, while William decided to focus on getting out of the nasty situation he found himself in.
***
24 hours earlier
Their mission was to find and acquire documents that were a proof that two of Victoria’s old friends were not involved in arms dealing, and Victoria decided to plan everything herself.“I will distract the guards, and while they focus on me, William can sneak into the factory building and extract the CD more or less safely,” she said, hiding a few locks of hair behind one ear, before she looked at Frank. “You will serve as back up for William, while Marvin and Sarah keep an eye on the trackers in our phones, in case something goes wrong. How does that sound?”“How much time will I have?” William asked, crossing his arms over his chest, as he leaned against the doorframe in Victoria’s living room.“If everything goes according to plan, half an hour should be enough to go in, find the data and leave unnoticed. Sarah will inform you which corridors are the safest before you go in.”“Right,” he murmured, while Sarah grinned, clearly excited by the idea. “Piece of cake.”The plan hadn’t sounded particularly complicated. Of course, he should have known that every time someone said that, things usually went sideways very quickly.
***
Present day
Blood started to run down William’s leg again, the dressing clearly not enough to stop the bleeding, but he couldn’t do anything about that at the time. Hearing at least three people outside the office he was in, William stayed close to the wall, away from the window. Hopefully it would give him some time to come up with some kind of a plan. According to information Marvin had provided, cameras in this part of the building were easy to evade, so that could prove helpful.Waiting for footsteps to disappear from his earshot, he opened the door quietly and stayed close to the wall, trying to guess which parts of the corridor were not monitored. Since his phone was destroyed and he couldn’t contact Sarah, he had to rely on his instinct. It wasn’t the best option, especially since his presence in the building was not a secret anymore, but he couldn’t do much else.After a while, as he slowly moved forward, he noticed a small niche between the nearest door and a corner of the corridor, perfect to hide in. William didn’t have to wait long for a chance to use his newfound hiding spot. As he heard someone walking towards him, he leaned back against the wall, breathing quietly. The footsteps weren’t loud, and it could have been his mind playing tricks on him, too, but in the situation he was in, he could not afford to get caught, especially not in such a stupid way.Licking his lips briefly, he touched the trigger, before a familiar figure appeared in his line of sight. William lowered the gun right away, relieved.Frank lowered his weapon as well, and quickly walked up to William, wrapping one arm around his waist to support his weight. “I think someone knew about our plan,” William murmured, wincing slightly.“Victoria already talked to Marvin, and he’s working on it,” Frank answered just as quietly, looking around. “So, what’s the plan now? For some reason I don’t think it’ll be easy to get the CD now.”Even with Frank’s help walking was getting more and more difficult, but since William know that they weren’t anywhere close to the nearest exit, he tried not to think about how much his leg hurt. Damn it all.“Well, your appearance here was diversion enough. It gave Victoria a chance to walk into the building, because everyone was focused on finding you,” Frank’s mouth twitched upwards, but he did tighten his hold on William’s waist.“Glad I could help.” “How’s the leg?”“It’s fine,” William tried not to wince as he said it. “Let’s just focus on steering everyone away from Victoria.”Even if he was in pain, William helped Frank to hold everyone off until Victoria let Frank know that she had the CD they needed. They managed to leave the building more or less safely, and the rest was in the hands of William’s new boss, and the people she appointed, while William was taken to the hospital.Three days later, after all of William’s injuries were properly wrapped and he was given two weeks off, he was allowed to go back home. In the end, however, instead of at his own apartment he ended up staying at Frank’s, because Frank could get a bit overprotective sometimes. He was not fussing, but it was obvious he was worried.When William was sitting on the couch, watching re-runs of Dog Cops, his injured leg propped on a footstool, Frank walked into the room holding two plates of what turned out to be steak, mashed potatoes and salad.“Here you go,” he said, handing one plate to William, while he put the other one on the coffee table. “I’ll bring you a cup of orange juice.”“You know I can get it myself later, right?” William asked, glancing at Frank, before delicious smell of the food before him hit his nose. “I’m not bedridden.”“I know,” Frank answered from the kitchen. “But since I’m already up…”William just snorted at that. Soon, they were sitting next to each other, enjoying the food and a few more episodes of Dog Cops. Their knees were touching, and elbows were brushing occasionally. And if after dinner, once Frank put away their plates, William ended up falling asleep, with his head pillowed on Frank’s shoulder as Frank ran one hand up and down William’s arm slowly, well, who could blame him?He really liked napping on Frank’s couch, preferably with Frank right next to him.