Fan Fiction / Zoids Fan Fiction ❯ The Boundaries of Parents ❯ Countermeasures ( Chapter 8 )

After drinking a few rounds, and getting nowhere fast, Irvine was tired of waiting. He was walking out, when he finally realized what everybody had been talking about.

A man and a woman were walking in, when he heard her say, "So the reward goes to whoever can capture Captain Freiheit's son? Sounds too easy."

Irvine stopped dead in his tracks, and then he noticed the couple looking hard at him. He kept walking in the direction of his hidden Lightning Saix. He climbed into cockpit and called out to Thomas.

"Thomas, can you read me? Answer me!"

A crackle came over the communication link, and Thomas answered back.

"Where are you? We need to talk, now!"

"Stop yelling! I hear you fine. What's the problem?"

Irvine repeated his question, "Where are you? I'll tell you what's going on when I see you."

Thomas told him that he was almost at his quarters. Irvine told him to stop and wait for him. "I just heard something that I need to tell Van, now."

"Whoa, wait a minute. If you go storming into Van's house, you're going to scare Fiona worse. Tell me what's going on first."

"I'm almost there, Irvine out."

The Lightning Saix saw the Dibison as it came out of the desert. Thomas popped open his cockpit when he saw the Zoid coming towards him. "What's the problem?"

"You're not going to like this." Irvine told Thomas about the eerie conversations he heard around the bar. "There's a bounty on Van's son. Wanted dead or alive."

Thomas fell back into the cockpit. "That can't be true! He's just a little boy!"

"Somebody wants to get to Van. They're just using his son as a tool."

"Who put up the bounty?"

"Who do you think?"

Thomas was growing angry, "But we can't prove anything!"

"We don't have to go after them. We just have to get out of here."

"This should be what we need to get the colonels to transfer the Liger. We need to get out of here as soon as possible. I think we should leave now."

Irvine nodded his head, "We'll call out an order for all units to come back to base. That'll give us the support we need for the Liger."

Both warriors rode back to base. Thomas searched for his brother, while Irvine informed Rob what was going. All four met in command central.

"We need to contact Captain Freiheit and notify him that we're leaving tonight." Rob had all ready ordered for all personnel involved with the Liger project to prepare for transfer. "The rest of the battalion can stay here."

"Where are we going to transfer to?" Karl was looking at a map on a screen.

"Our safest bet would be Red River Base. Thomas, Irvine, go get Van and Fiona. They need to get out of her now."

"On our way." They both said in unison.

Thomas and Irvine took a jeep to get to Van's quarters on the opposite side of the base. There was only one problem they were discussing on the way there.

"How are we going to tell Van and Fiona their son is most wanted?"

Irvine glanced at Thomas, but kept his head towards the destination. "I don't know. I'll just start from the beginning and tell them everything I heard."

"Do you know how long bounties last?"

Irvine stopped the jeep in front of Van's house. He looked at Thomas and slowly shook his head, "You don't much outside of a soldier's life, do you?"

Thomas wanted to get angry, but knew Irvine was right.

"The bounty stays as long as the reward is still offered."

"Van's son could be in danger all his life." He had to think about each word as he said it.

"If you want to think negatively about it."

"He's barely even begun to live, and somebody all ready wants him dead."

"Stop thinking like that, otherwise you're going to scare Fiona even more."

That was the last thing Thomas wanted. He was nervous knocking on the door. He was about to tell a mother of a one-year-old that her son was in grave danger.

Van answered the door, and immediately didn't like the look on the faces that greeted him back.

"What's going on?" Van whispered in the dark.

"We're transferring the Liger Zero tonight. Colonels Schubaltz and Herman's orders." Thomas definitely didn't want to be the one tell Van the bad news.

"What? Why? What's going on?" Van was careful not to raise his voice, but it was too late. Fiona walked into the room and asked what was going on.

"I just got orders that we're relocating to another base, that's all."

"No, that's not all. Please tell me what's really going on."

Irvine and Thomas glanced at each other quickly. Fiona caught it and began to talk directly to Thomas.

"I know you wouldn't lie to me, Thomas, so what else is going on? Please, don't be afraid to tell me."

Thomas hated looking into Fiona's worried eyes. He looked at Irvine, who decided to tell both parents what he heard.

The wind could be heard howling outside, if not for that, the room would have been completely silent. Fiona sat and stared at the ground in disbelief. Van sat next to her with his head buried in his hands. Thomas and Irvine stood near the door and didn't say a word.

The silence broke when the baby could be heard crying. It was the strangest sound Van and Fiona had ever heard. The only other time he had ever cried was when he was first born. Could he sense what was going on only a short distance away from him?

Fiona rushed out of the room towards her son. She saw Zeke gently rubbing the child with his head. When she saw her son reach out to her, she began crying right along with him.

Van finally came back to reality and walked into his son's bedroom. Fiona was trying to rock him back to sleep, but her crying was only intensifying his. He tried getting him out of his mother's hands, but she wouldn't let go. Fiona looked at her husband through heartbreaking eyes. The only other time Van felt so helpless was when Fiona had left him after the fight with the Deathstinger.

At last, Van spoke, "We can get out of here tonight, and nothing will happen to our son."

"It's just like my dream." She said it so softly that Van didn't understand it.

"What did you say?"

"I didn't tell you the rest of my dream. I'm so sorry, Van, I never told you the rest of my dream."

"Tell me now, Fiona. What are you talking about?"

"Our son will never know who we are."

Van was taken aback by what Fiona just said. She continued, "Death was chasing him, so we had to let him go in order to save him."

Fiona wasn't making any sense to Van. He didn't know what to say. What could he say?

Thomas and Irvine were in the hall listening to what Fiona was telling Van. They didn't understand and were just as baffled as Van.

"I just don't understand, Fiona. What do you mean?"

A burst of gunfire was exchanging outside the house. Zeke seemed to be shielding Fiona and her son. All three men cautiously went outside to see what was happening. A few soldiers had a man and a woman with their hands above their head. Irvine drew his weapon and stood beside one of the soldiers.

"What's going on? Who are these trespassers?"

"We caught these two sneaking around the captain's quarters. When we demanded identification, they began to fire. We retaliated and now have them in custody."

Neither Van nor Thomas recognized the couple, but Irvine did. "These are the two that I heard outside the bar." He directed his next questions to them, "What are doing here? Who sent you?"

No answer.

"I'm warning you!" He raised his weapon and aimed.

"Irvine, it's not worth it. We know why they're here. Let the military police handle it." Van was remaining completely calm considering he had just been informed of a bounty on his son's head.

"Oh, no, Fiona!" He hurried back to his wife and saw her exactly as she was when all the commotion had begun.

"I'm sorry you had to hear that."

"We have to protect him." She finally stopped crying and was able to rock the boy back to sleep.

"We will. You know I'd die before I let anything happen to him."

She had no expression on her face when he said those words. Zeke was giving them both odd glances. He could feel the tension in the room.

"Let's start getting out things together. I'll tell Irvine and Thomas to go on ahead, and we'll catch up later."

Fiona remained silent as she gathered her little boy's clothes and toys. Van could hear her discussing something with Zeke, but he couldn't tell exactly what she was saying. He left the two alone while he packed. Soon they would head to base and prepare for the transfer to Red River.