The Wanted Series

Part title: The Blood In My Veins
Author: Hazel (hethumeleth@luukku.com)

WARNINGS: Involves criminal actions, fighting, violence and even killing.

Disclaimers: This is fiction. Hello! Ring a bell? It's *not real*.

Author's notes: Don't freak out now, okay? This is just fiction and written with a *lot* of humour. And about Lij not being comfortable with other men, well, it all gets clearer in the end. "I felt a breeze", Worms Armageddon, Don't ask. And just so you know.I ain't gonna write the second part unless u people give me some positive feedback!
Thanks to: Trish, aka Tuuli (tuuli1@nic.fi), who so kindly "beta'd" this even though she doesn't speak English as her first language, either. I also owe her a huge "thank you" for introducing me to the world of fanficti
W
Website: www.nic.fi/~teroma/CrazyCorner/

~~~

"Don't you fucking shoot him!" Wood was yelling to Viggo. His nerves were cracking. He had been talking Viggo out of killing Bean the last five minutes. It seemed like eternity.

Mortensen hadn't moved one bit during that time. He was still standing behind Mr. Bean, squeezing the gun in his hand. Viggo was crying. His left arm was shaking, holding the gun while his right one was hanging loosely by his side. Bean's lower lip was bleeding. Lij stepped a little closer.

"Easy now.c'mon."

The gunman didn't even notice anyone else in the room with him except the one he was pointing the gun at. He closed his eyes, tears still pouring. The sudden sound of police sirens woke him up. His eyes found the man peeking behind the door and focused on him.

"No!" Lij cried out, knowing it would end badly. Wood stumbled and fell, trying to run to Viggo. He was too late.

~~~

FLASHBACKS:

It was hot. Too hot.

Lij crashed his cigarette under his boot and walked on. From under his cowboy hat he could see only a few people. They were all dressed in shorts and T-shirts, unlike he with his black jeans and a jacket. He just hadn't known that it would be this hot in Arizona this time of the year.

He looked at his clock. Two twenty pm. //The goddamn guy is late.//

He sat on a bench near the town shop and kept an eye on other people. He always did that. He wanted to know which ones around him were the troublemakers and who the harmless ones. An old man. //No harm from there.//

He lit a new cigarette. He only smoked when he wasn't comfortable. He was never comfortable.

A breeze. Thanking God would've been in place if he'd believed in one, other than his trusty gun. He turned his head rapidly when he heard noise from a building across the main street. He stared at the doorway as his right hand moved to his hip, closer to the gun.

His knuckles turned from white to the normal colour when he realised that the place was a bar. //A *saloon*, actually.// Two men fell through the doors and rolled in the middle of the street. Suddenly there were people everywhere, peaking through windows and doorways. The fight would probably be in the headlines of the town magazine for *weeks*.

He inhaled the last sweet drag from his cigarette, stubbed it out and laid back. With amusement, he watched the men fight over this *lady* who was really just a whore of the day. To both of them. //Jeez, you people are uptight.try a threesome.// He pricked up his ears. There was a motorcycle a few blocks away. //Great, more next week's news.//

The biker was dressed in shabby dark blue jeans, denim jacket and brown boots that were covered with grey dust, probably from the drive. //Mortensen. Finally the man decides to show up.//

Wood didn't bother to stand up when the man stopped his bike only two feet from Lijah and turned off the engine. With a smooth movement, he took off his black sunglasses and touched the brim of his hat.

"Hello, Wood," Viggo said and took a long look at his partner. //A fucking child for god's sake.//

"You're late," Lij mumbled, lighting the next cigarette at the same time. //The man is *gay*. *SO* gay. I can't believe my stupid luck! I'm stuck here in the middle of *nowhere* with a man who likes *guys*. Gaaawd.// He put his handmade antique-lighter back into his pocket, shaking his head. He had never liked gay people.

"So.the gig," Lij said, not caring if the other man had a heart attack and died right then and there.

"Yeah. Hop on. I'll take you to the.hotel. We'll discuss it there."

//An annoyingly positive person no matter what.// Lij threw the butt carelessly on the pavement and climbed on. //Fuck.//

~~~

The sun was already setting, painting the desert's sky red. They had been on their way for about twenty minutes when Mortensen turned his bike to a bumpy driveway. It led to the yard of the hotel Mortensen had talked about. Viggo parked the bike and Lij jumped off, looking suspiciously around. The sight was sad. Miserable, actually. There were only a few dead bushes and a hundred-year-old car.

And the hotel. It was, well, *not* a hotel. Not even a motel. It was a filthy pig's hole. Lijah lit a cigarette. //Only eleven left. Shit.// He looked around and with a quick count he realised that there were too many rooms for a such a small motel. There could've not been more than twenty rooms but even that was at least //.ten too many. There couldn't possibly be so many guests at the same time in a place like this.Very suspicious indeed.//

"I called us in an hour ago. They should have an accommodation for us already," Viggo said interrupting Elwood's thoughts, "Come inside".

//No way. I'm smoking this cigarette in silence. Not with some stupid.// "I'll come in a minute!"

"Sure you will." the sarcastic voice of Viggo was swept away by the wind.

Finally Lij could hear himself think again. Not that he was thinking anything right there and then. He smoked the cigarette, watching the sun set behind the distant mountains. Then he made his way indoors.

He nodded at Viggo. He looked around, even more amazed by the condition of the building than what he had been when he'd looked at it from outside. There were no windows, no chairs and no bell to ring to get some service. And the receptionist's desk that Viggo was sitting at... //Don't even start.//

Lijah decided not to risk anything and remained standing. Then they waited and waited. //This town's full of waiting. First Viggo and now the receptionist. Finally a man who looked like he was high or something damn near that came to them. Viggo caught Lij looking at the man suspiciously but he ignored that.

"A room for two," Viggo said to the man.

//WHAT?// Lij probably couldn't have looked more shaken even if he had just heard his death-sentence.

The man bent down to get something from behind the counter when Viggo clarified his previous sentence, "Make it with two beds."

//Thank *God*//

The man groaned an inarticulate answer and turned around to get the keys from a box on the floor. He straightened up and handed a rusty key to Viggo. The older man put it in his pocket.

The man took a long look of the both of them, probably making sure he asked enough, but his eyes got stuck on Lijah. //I've seen him before.//

Viggo gave an evil look to the man for looking his //Mine!// Lij too long.

"Twenty five bucks," the man said, "Take it or leave it."

Viggo narrowed his eyes dangerously at the man and his knuckles turned white. "That's bullshit! You son of a."

"Shut up you both. Here's my credit card," Lij had had enough. He gave the card to the man.

"No way you're giving anything to that guy. Not at least your card." Viggo grabbed the card from the man and handed it back to Lij, "He could find out who we are." he whispered quietly.

Lij snatched his card back. "Thanks. I wasn't thinking." he said, almost embarrassed, and stuffed the card back into his wallet.

Viggo turned around and walked back outside, turned a corner and walked to the door of their room. Then he took out the key, looked at it for a few seconds and started scratching some paint off the doorframe with it.

//Clever.// Lij wrinkled his nose, looking around the corridor. //Number thirteen.figures.// Lij wasn't happy about having to go to a strange place like this, with a man who was *gay*. He hadn't been prepared.

"Is it not good enough for you?" Viggo asked, clearly annoyed by the younger man's contempt.

//No. Of course *not*!// "It's fine."

The door opened to a dark room. Stench of old socks and something a lot stronger than ordinary tobacco was the first sensation Lij had when he stepped in. The windows were covered well. //Good//.

The only furniture in the room were the two required beds, a lamp and a small table. The second door probably led to the bathroom. //No cockroaches, please.//

Mortensen was just about to put on the lights when they both jumped about a foot in the air. The tiniest sound from the bathroom had startled them both. Lij jumped behind a bed. //Oh no! The roaches!// and Viggo drew out his gun.

"Wow! Take it easy. It's me," a harsh voice from the dark said.

Mortensen lowered the weapon and cursed. Lij peaked behind the bed. //Who the f.//

"Shit, man," Viggo said, "Almost shot you!"

Now Wood got up from behind the bed and looked at the man and then Viggo.

"This is Mr. Sean Bean. Mr. Bean, this is Elijah Wood," Viggo said and explained patiently, "Lij is the one whose idea this whole gig was in the beginning."

//Don't you fucking call me Lij!// "It's *Elijah*," he snapped.

"Whatever," Viggo said.

Sean looked at the two guys thoughtfully. //There's something going on between those two.// He held out his hand. "Hello, Elijah."

Lij grabbed the offered hand. //Guy sounds harmless but looks like a serial killer. Watch it now.// "Hello," Lij said to the stranger.

"Call me Sean," Mr. Bean replied, letting go of Lij's hand. "So, you are the genius who pulled this all together. Good work!"

Viggo looked at the two of them and didn't like what he saw. Bean *never* told anyone to call him Sean. And he never ever shook anybody's hand. //Not good.//.

"Kay," Bean said, "Let's go through the plan, shall we? Wood, you have the ground plans?"

~~~

//This is a mistake.no doubt about that.// "Here," Bean whispered to the others and continued walking.

The desert always gets cold at night. Lij knew that but this time it felt like everything around him was frozen. There was no sound and the alley was dark. He couldn't see a thing.

They were heading towards the biggest building in the whole town. They needed to be silent. Needed to be invisible. They were not there.

The alley was full of trash and other stuff people had thrown out of their apartments. Sean didn't even notice anything unusual when he passed a trashcan smoothly. Lijah, being the clumsy one, bumped into it. Viggo, who really had no idea how strong he was, moved it from his way.

"Shh," someone who sounded like Sean whispered.

//You shut it.// Lij looked at Sean and then in the direction Sean was looking in. Two guards were talking quietly. They had their blue uniforms on so they were almost impossible to make out. It was the shift change. It was the time to change history. It was their time. Time to kick some serious butt.

Viggo took his gun and started to put the muffler to its place. Silently he told Lij to start climbing the stairs to the roof and Sean to follow him to the guards.

~

Wood started climbing and checked from the half way that everything was in order. He did *not* plan this thing to go like this. //Fine, you play big and bad macho boys and I'll climb. What am I? A fucking monkey? Well, at least fucking.//

~

Sean knew he should not have interfered in Lij's plans but his sorry ass was soon to be a fired, or better yet wasted, sorry ass if he didn't pull this through here. //Why the fuck do *I* always get involved in something like this? I would've been perfectly able to just walk away from the old and cranky gay guy, so why the hell didn't I?// He sneaked behind a car. Now he was a lot closer to the guards than Viggo. //Good.//

Viggo was too far away to see what the heck the guy was doing but, whatever it was, it wasn't going as they had planned. //What the hell is he doing?// He was also too far away to be able to do anything to help to save the situation. Sean seemed to be making a new plan how to do this. //Not good.//

~

Lij was already in his position. Ready to open the skylight. Waiting. //Four minutes left. Hope they can do this.//

~

Sean knew he wasn't ready. But he also knew this was it. The guards parted. The one who didn't leave lit a cigarette while the other one started whistling some stupid song.

Viggo saw the man walking away and was as ready as he could ever be. He wasn't so sure if the man was as sober as he probably should have been considering the fact it was his shift that was just ending. Well, at least they'd have someone to blame when the rich oldie would be found dead and broke.

The song was really getting on his nerves. //The last song you're ever going to hear and you chose *that*? Jeez.// Viggo stepped closer just in time to see Sean attack the guy who would have died sooner anyway. He was a smoker. //Hmm, so was Lij.// Sean had a good hold of the guard. // What? A gun. Dead man. No, no, no. It wasn't supposed to go like this!//


-loppu-


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