Escape Route (Decode Sequel)

Chapter Nine - Cotton Candy Mafia Mess.

Lennon.

Did I have a plan yet? No and we were already in the car on the way to the airport. Zayn and I were completely squashed in the middle seat with two hefty bodyguards on either side, in case we tried to jump out of a moving car. Honestly, I would have taken jumping out of a speeding car rather than actually being in the car any day.  

Zayn fidgeted in his seat, it was more than obvious he did not approve of his attire. Jeans and denim jackets were out of the window. He was adorned in tanned coloured chinos, a sweatshirt and a pair of converse style shoes. He looked like an American college student. I on the other hand was dressed head to toe in pink. I looked like a cotton candy machine had just exploded all over me. I had just off white hair, a baby pink skater dress and pink ballet shoes. I looked like the definition of girly girl taken to the extreme. They had done an excellent job of making us look like completely different people. Zayn didn’t have any facial anymore and he was forced to wear a beanie, he looked so much younger than before. I just looked like a dress up doll. 

Axel and Anita had also dressed the part. Axel was living up to his name though, he looked like an Axl Rose impersonator. If we were going for the dysfunctional family look, we were owning it. However, I was sure this whole fiasco with our appearances would bring more attention to us than if we looked like ourselves. We stuck out like sore thumbs.  

Axel’s group of burly men were joining us too, but they were going to pretend we had no idea who they were. They were dressed as business men. I wasn’t sure what Axel was so scared of over in Sicily, but someone clearly has a vendetta against him. He wouldn’t go to all this trouble for nothing.  

Zayn and I were convinced Axel and Anita didn’t even have a plan of action once we got there. Sicily isn’t exactly a small place and we didn’t know where Vince was either. I didn’t intend on sticking around with them for long. We hadn’t gotten much of an opportunity to formulate a plan, but we would improvise when the time arose…somehow.  

I wasn’t even sure what Anita’s actual relationship with Axel was. One minute they appeared utterly smitten, other times they sounded like they wanted to cut each others throat. I couldn’t determine whether it was all an act or not. I had learnt Anita was Russian, her accent was a heavy giveaway but she was extremely skilled at hiding it when she was in her ‘mother’ mode. As soon as we were dragged from the damp building she had turned into Mary Poppins. 

The car pulled up just off the drop off zone at the airport so no one could see the group of muscular men surrounding us - no doubt it would have turned a few heads. Anita wasted no time in snatching Zayn’s arm, creating a death grip in her grasp. Axel was reluctant to hold my arm, I wasn’t approving of it either. My heart was beating erratically and not in a good way when his hand touched my skin. It sent shivers down my spin and sweat drops down my face. Anita frowned when she saw and gave a look saying ‘you’ll ruin your make up’, and I wouldn’t want to do that of course.  

Axel heaved a suitcase behind him, I had no idea what was in it but it was most likely to make us look less suspicious. Same reason we had return flight tickets, we looked like we were heading off on a nice family holiday, little did everyone know.  

We walked through the entrance of the airport, smiles plastered on our unrecognisable faces. Axel approached the check in counter with us all in tow and happily handed over the passports and tickets. Zayn and I’s passports weren’t real, our real one were back with The South, who knows where the fraudulent ones came from. It was extremely bizarre watching Axel smile, talk politely and act like a regular citizen for once. I knew deep down the smiling was killing him and every time he said please and thank you, his hard front was chipped slightly.