Chapter Four

I am really tired. I've been in this cell for three days now and I'm starting to suffer from the lack of sleep. I jump up off the bench and start doing some exercises, to get my blood pumping and shake off this tiredness. Just as I'm doing some sit ups, I hear footsteps, so I stop mid sit up and glance at the bars of the cell.

Officer Palmer speaks, “Your escort is here. You need to have your cuffs on.”

I stand up, shake myself off and turn my back to the bars. I turn my head, so I can still see what Palmer is doing.

“You still not slept?”

“You still pretending to care?”

“Arya, what is your problem? I'm only asking you a question. Why do you have to be so defensive all the time?”

“Why do you have to be so annoying all the time?”

He sighs but doesn't have a chance to respond because we're out the front and I'm placed in front of a pretty big dude. He's wearing dark jeans and a relatively tight grey t-shirt. He's also wearing a pair of tan cowboy boots. As I take in his boots, I snort. The guy has blonde hair and brown eyes. He's not ugly, but I'm not saying his drop dead gorgeous or anything. He's just average.

He speaks to Palmer, “This her?”

“Yes sir. Arya, this is US Marshall Smith. Smith, this is Arya Flynn.”

“She needs to be cuffed in front.”

“Err, we can't do that...”

This time I actually laugh. Smith glares at me and grunts, “Something funny?”

“Yeah, your face...”

Palmer warns, “Behave Arya...”

“What? He walked into that one...”

“Sir, we can't cuff her in front because she has a habit of breaking out of them or attacking officers. You can't give her even a tiny bit of freedom. She'll run with whatever you give her.”

“She tries anything funny then I'll shoot her.”

I smirk, “Good. Then I won't have to go to this awful place. That'll be very helpful, thanks.”

Everyone looks at me in shock and Smith says, “I won't be shooting to injure.”

I get his hidden meaning, so I smile and say, “Even better. Then I won't have to deal with a bunch of filthy pig scum...”

His eyes narrow and I can almost see the steam coming out of his ears. This makes me chuckle.

Palmer hisses, “You want to die?! You'd rather die than go to this ranch? Are you for real?”

“I told you, I don't care. Never underestimate a person who doesn't care.”

He turns to Smith and says, “Just keep a close eye on her and don't let her get the upper hand. She'll do everything in her power to get you to react, but don't take the bait. She feeds off your reaction...”

I fake pout, “Aww, you've ruined my fun, Palmer.”

“You need help, Flynn.”

I chuckle but don't reply. Smith manhandles me as he starts walking me out of the precinct. Under my breath I mutter curses, which Smith ignores completely, so I work on a plan to get him to react. The journey to the airport is silent. To be honest, I can't really be bothered to rile this guy up. I'm stewing because I really don't want to go to this freakin' ranch.

Once we get to the airport, I draw a lot of attention. I love to get a reaction out of people, so I am like a cat with the cream in this situation. It helps that I don't get embarrassed. That was something I dropped a long time ago.

As people stare, I raise my voice. “Take a good look people, you got a hardened criminal in your midst. If you wanna take photos, I charge $10 a snap. I'm sure this guy won't mind taking the snaps. He is good like that...”

Smith hisses, “Shut up, Flynn.”

I smile, “Make me, Smith.”

His grip tightens on me, but it doesn't have the reaction he desires, because I just laugh and continue to talk to the crowd of people.

“Don't be shy guys. I won't hurt you... much. No, seriously, I can't do anything while my hands are cuffed behind my back. Now, if I get out of them, then I can't make any promises...”

I hear a middle aged woman mutter to her husband, “Kids today. What is the world coming to?”

I don't miss a beat as I reply, “That's coz we have parents like you. What else do you expect us to turn out like? Take a look in the mirror, lady.”

She turns bright red and then huffs as she walks away. I hurl out more words of abuse before our section of the airport clears because no one wants to be near the mouthy, disgusting criminal. As Smith throws me into a chair, I sigh, “That's better. Nice and quiet now.”

“Somehow you don't come across as the kind of person who likes to be quiet...”

I smirk, “That's what I'm told. We can find out, if you want. You're not usually my type, but whatever...”

I see a little blush form on his cheeks before he gets his reaction under control and he steels his features.

“You're unbelievable...”

“That's what he said...”

“Just shut your mouth and this will go a lot quicker and much smoother...”

“Aww, where's the fun in that? Maybe I want it to be longer and rougher...”

I snort at his reaction and then all out laugh.

“Dude, you obviously didn't listen to Palmer's advice. Love it...”

Now that I've raised a reaction out of him, my work is done and I can sit in silence. It's not long before we board the flight and we are the first on the plane. The flight attendant informs Smith that I can't sit with my hands behind my back because I need to put my safety belt on. Smith mutters, “Don't try anything” as he removes one of my cuffs, and then cuffs my hands together in front of me.

I hear that middle aged lady complaining to a flight attendant about having a murderer on the same flight as her.

I shout out, “Don't worry lady, my hands are still cuffed. You're safe... for now...”

Before I can get any more words out, Smith's hand is slapped across my mouth. Anger builds up inside of me instantly and I ram myself into him and push him against the seat in front of him with my forearm over his throat. How dare he touch me! I expect that they're going to cuff me and manhandle me to some degree, especially knowing about my violence, but how dare he touch my face! After my point is made, I drop my arms and give him a double handed punch to the gut. Smith lets out a grunt, “What the...! What's the matter with you?!”

“You touched me... Don't touch me...!”

“Don't run your mouth then. Just shut up and keep your head down. Besides, cops touch you all the time. Why is now any different?”

“Just keep your freakin' hands to yourself, you scumbag.”

During the three hour flight I am fighting sleep. Every time my eyes start to close, I snap them open again and start reciting the team rosters for the Jets and the Giants.

Smith grits his teeth and grunts, “Just go to sleep, Flynn. If I have to hear the team rosters one more time, I might just shoot you.”

“Go ahead. See if I care.”

Smith is quiet for a minute and then he asks, “Why are you so set on being shot?”

“Why do you act like you care?”

He snorts, “I don't care; there's no pretending here. If I'm gonna have to shoot you, then I'd like to know why you're so intent on dying.”

I roll my eyes at him and mutter, “Whatever. Shoot me, don't shoot me. I don't care.”

“That cop was right. You do need help.”

“Does my face looks like it cares what you say?”

“Not really, but that could just be an act.”

“How about I show you what's not an act, huh? You keep running your mouth and I'm gonna have to shut it for you...”

“No need to get so angry...”

I chuckle, “Dude, you have no idea what angry looks like.”

Smith lets it go and we spend the rest of the flight in silence, well except for me muttering the team rosters every so often. As soon as the plane lands and the safety belt sign is switched off, Smith cuffs my hands behind my back again, warning me to behave myself. We're the first off the aircraft and because I have no baggage to claim, we're out in no time at all.

We're approached by another big guy, dressed similarly to Smith, except his cowboys boots are black and have white detail on them. I chuckle and mutter, “Seriously?”

The guy shakes hands with Smith and does that weird one armed hug thing. The new guy says, “Dan, how's it going? Haven't seen you in a while...”

“Hey Tom. I'm good, thanks. Yourself?”

“Yeah, pretty good. Mary's expecting. Baby is due in a couple of weeks....”

I can't help myself. My mouth opens of it's own accord and I say, “Well, isn't this just cute. You're having a little girly chat over here. Can't I just step away? There's too much estrogen floating around and it's gonna make me sick...”

This Tom guy's head snaps toward me, like he's just realized I'm there. “Well, they did warn me she was a little fiery, but they didn't tell me she was such a charmer. I bet your flight was fun.”

“The best, actually. Even if he's gonna be bruised because of it...”

I chuckle at Smith's expression and Tom turns to him for an explanation. Smith shakes his head in response. I see that middle aged lady again and I just have to comment, so I shout, “Hey lady! I've got another body guard over here. They must think I'm a real danger if they've got two of them watching me now...!”

I feel the anger radiating from the woman and her husband, even from this distance and I chuckle at their reaction. Smith grabs hold of my arms and growls, “Can't you just keep your mouth shut for 5 minutes?”

“Nope. It's just too much fun...”

He mutters something under his breath, but I don't catch what it is. Tom chuckles and opens the back door of a cop car, motioning for me to slide in. Before I make a move, he says, “Dan, you need to move her cuffs to the front...”

I chuckle slightly at Smith's response. “No can do, man. She slips her cuffs if she's cuffed in front. She's a violent one as well. Knocked out a few cops in her time.”

“And they let you bring her on your own?”

“Cut backs. They'll get us every way they can. As long as the cuffs are tight and her hands are behind her back, she should behave herself. Although, her mouth needs a set of cuffs all of its own...”

I actually laugh at that, “Dude, that doesn't even make sense. If you wanted me to be quiet, all you had to do was ask...”

Smith's face goes an unnatural shade of red as he shouts, “I did!”

My signature smirk is prominent on my face, letting him know he took the bait without me having to actually say anything. He roughly grabs my arm and all but shoves me into the back seat.

“If you were that desperate to get me in the back seat of a car, you only needed to say...”

Tom chuckles as Smith blushes. It's just too easy sometimes. Now I need to turn my attention to this Tom guy. I need to get a reaction out of him. This is my coping mechanism. I'm actually really annoyed and angry about being here. I'm also uncomfortable, which doesn't really make for a good combination. Add that to my lack of sleep and you're asking for trouble. This would normally be the time I find someone's face to smash in and then everything would go back to a relatively normal level. Obviously, getting into a fight is not exactly going to happen right now, so getting a reaction out of people is the next best thing.

I listen to the two guys talking about work and how life is going. It's so boring that I find myself almost drifting off to sleep. Just as my eyes are closing, I hear Smith whisper, “Finally she's going to sleep. Maybe we'll get a break...”

My eyes snap open and I say, “Oday Aboushi, Antonio Allen, Jace Amaro, Colin Anderson...”

I hear Smith groan, but I continue with my routine as I bounce my legs, trying to stay awake and moving as much as possible. I really need to hit something or someone before I can go to sleep.

Tom looks at me in the rear view mirror briefly and then shoots a look at Smith. “What is she doing?”

“Not sleeping, that's what she's doing. You don't even want to know how many time I heard the Jets' team roster on the flight here. Can't you just go to sleep, Flynn?”

I bite out, “Can't you just shut your mouth? If you two girls weren't boring me to death with your granny chat then I wouldn't feel like I need to sleep...”

Tom tries to break the tension, “You know the whole Jets' active roster?”

I roll my eyes, but don't answer. Smith does it for me. “Yes and the Giants' as well.”

“That's pretty cool. Although the Titans are still the best. Titans pride runs deep here...”

I scoff at that and I see my opening. “I bet your wife is glad that you're at least adequate enough to make a baby coz your football taste is certainly below adequate...”

I see Tom's fist clench on the steering wheel but he doesn't respond to my comment. I know I've hit a nerve there, so I quickly say, “If it's a boy, please teach him to be more manly than the pair of you. I would offer my services, but I know you can't afford me. Besides, I don't intend to be here that long...”

I almost see steam escaping from his ears and the anger on his face is clearly readable. He grinds out, “You don't know anything about me, so you can't pass judgement. I don't want criminals near my child... I don't want people like...”

“People like me? I don't want to be around people like you either, so the feeling is mutual. Why don't you just pull over and shoot me now. You can say I was trying to run. Better yet, let me take a swing at you and it'll make the story more believable...”

Smith pipes in, “Tom, she's got this thing about us shooting her. She really doesn't want to be here, so I don't doubt she'd follow through with her threat. Flynn, just shut up and this ride will go a lot smoother...”



I snort, remembering my line from the airport. Smith must remember it as well because the tips of his ears turn slightly red, which makes me chuckle. The rest of the journey is taken in silence. I'm looking out the window but I can feel the anger radiating from the two guys in the front seats. Just feeling the anger coming from them makes me feel powerful. It gives me the feeling of being in control of them. I should be worried that they'll report me or do something to me. I know not all cops are 'good' cops. I should be worried, but I'm not. I'm smug as I watch the built up city background disappears and is replaced by trees and nature.