Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Devil's Due ❯ - 18 - ( Chapter 18 )

— 18 —

December 1, A.C. 204. Base. 7am

"What are you doing?" Wufei asked Chai curiously as she moved into Jordan's office. "Where's Jor?"

"Heading to Vietnam right about now," Chai returned, giving him a worried look. Jordan had chased her back to bed after his call with Riley had been cut, but he'd woken her up around six to tell her he couldn't believe he'd waited as long as he had to go, and that his flight left at seven.

Wufei stared at her.

"Morning, lovely," Chance called happily as he moved along the hall toward the offices as well. "What news?" Wufei turned to look at him, which made him fall quiet and look back to the female. "Why did Jordan leave just after six this morning?"

"Oh, god," Quatre muttered as he stepped into the hall. "Chai...I can't be with you like this..."

"Sorry, Quatre," she returned, focusing on her emotions.

"What's going on?" Trowa asked, then smiled. "Morning, lovely."

Chai gave him a vaguely amused look, then gestured for them to follow.

"Jordan got a call from Riley this morning," Quatre started to explain as they complied.

"She's all right, isn't she?" Wufei asked quickly. "And Danielle?"

Really, though, his stomach was taking a dive.

Jordan wouldn't be going to Vietnam if they were fine...

"Chai?" he appealed, realizing he was losing his emotional control.

"I'm shielded," Quatre reassured him, dropping into one of the chairs.

"The people they were meeting with," Chai explained, moving to sit in her husband's seat. "The man who sold Danielle her weapons cache was there."

Wufei's heart started to fold in on itself.

Were they dead?

"They ran," Quatre noted, looking up to him with tired eyes. "They got away...were in a taxi...and then there was a loud noise and the connection dropped." He studied Wufei a long moment in silence, then smiled very slightly. "No one's been reported dead yet, Wufei. Jordan just can't bear the thought of the girls being chased around Manoi."

"That flight is damn long, though," Trowa protested. "It'll take him...at least fifteen hours."

"And hopefully the girls will be safe," Quatre agreed. "Until then...that's all we know."

Wufei moved backwards to lean against the wall, his heart beating incredibly fast.

"I thought I could work today," Quatre noted, looking back to the desk himself. "But I don't think I can...not really. Wufei? Take me home?"

"What about Chai?" Wufei protested, looking up to her.

"She gets to pick up his work and tell Une what he's doing," Quatre returned, rubbing his eyes. "I knew he'd speed there, pussycat," Quatre added, looking up to her. "Did you speed back?"

"I wasn't paying attention," Chai returned. "We only barely got him there for his check in time."

"Does Raul know? Who's monitoring the house phone?" Wufei added, looking around.

"His calls are all to his cell," Chai reassured him. "There are specific set up times for them to call the vid, and they aren't for another few days."

"You know it all, don't you?" Chance asked, studying her seriously.

"Living date-book," Quatre agreed, smiling wanly at her as he stood. "Wufei, take me home."

"Cat, I'm not emotionally stable right now," Wufei protested.

"You can't work today either," Quatre reassured him. "You take me home and go back to your place. We leave Chance and Tro to clean up the leavings and hope for the best."

"I don't like that plan," Trowa noted, raising one hand.

Quatre gave him an amused smile, then left the room.

"Go," Chance ordered Wufei, who'd hesitated.

Wufei disappeared.

"Do you need me for anything?" he added to Chai seriously. "Is there something here that I can do?"

"Tell Une for me," she suggested, starting to gather up papers for his briefcase. "You don't need to do anything for me," she added, meeting his eyes when he started to move. "I know how it all works well enough to figure this out."

Trowa sighed, moving around the desk and lifting up the phone. He typed in the code to direct all calls to his own office, then shook his head and dropped the receiver back into the cradle. "That's that, you get his vid," he pointed at Chance, then turned and started from the room. "I'll get the phones."

"Can't you type the codes in for me?" Chance demanded almost irritably of him.

"No, because I'm only taking some of the work left for them and you get the rest. We have a busy day, Chance. Don't quibble."

- -

December 2, A.C. 204. Fuzhou, China. 11pm

Xane smiled at the little old lady berating him for waking her up when he moved through the gate, but didn't respond. If he argued with her, all hell would break loose. He started up the stairs, then stopped and turned to look at her. "It won't happen again," he promised in Mandarin, then turned to take the things two at a time.

She hadn't been sleeping anyway, he could still hear her damn tv, and her husband was dead.

He shook his head as he pulled out the keys to his apartment. He'd met a pretty little female who'd been quite distracting, and he seriously needed to head on toward bed.

One thing he appreciated about the apartment buildings was that they weren't the best, but they were well insulated. It wasn't very cold yet anyway, but the insulation kept his electricity bill that much lower...and the sound that much quieter, actually. He didn't really hear his neighbors, and that was kinda nice after the shit-hole he'd been in back in Spain.

His cell started vibrating.

Xane frowned, pulling it out to see Jordan's name, raising to his ear. "Yeah, boss-man?"

"There was an incident in Vietnam," Jordan returned quietly. "In a manner of speaking, Mae and Duvall are missing in action. I'm on the plane now and will get there in several more hours. Be ready to fly if I have to call you."

"Yes, sir," Xane returned, sobering up. "And the others?"

"Ifhera is in Switzerland until the fourth his time. Jaem is on base."

"Do you want me to come?" he asked quietly, wondering at the formality. Jordan didn't normally refer to them as only last names.

"Negative," Jordan said seriously. "Go about your business as normal, but I might need you to run before I can get there. Confirm."

"Yes, sir," Xane said firmly, blinking as he realized that Jordan was on a plane calling from his cell phone. He probably had someone standing over him tapping their foot.

"Keep your phone on you at all times, Mouthy," he said in a slightly softer tone. "Be safe."

"And you," Xane agreed, making sure his apartment door was locked as the line went dead. He closed his phone with a frown, then moved across the room and flicked on his laptop.

First things first. If he had to run, he needed a map to run with. He was the closest to the girls at this point...and with a god's permission he'd damn well fly, laws of nature be damned.

- -

December 2, A.C. 204. Manoi, Vietnam. 4:30pm

"What's the status?" Jordan demanded unceremoniously as he stormed into the meeting room in the Tiffan building as the men scrambled to their feet to salute. "Don't waste my time!" he half shouted at them, which made them all jump hard, guilty.

"Welcome to Manoi, General Maxwell," Marcher noted quietly, offering his hand as Jordan neared. "I wish the circumstances were more favorable, however."

"Don't waste my time," Jordan repeated quietly.

"No news," Marcher returned. "We're still running into marauding bandits, though, so that's almost telling."

Jordan moved forward to look at the map of the city that was laid across the table with tacks and string arranging a strange pattern across it. There were at least a hundred single pins sticking out of one section. "Explain this," he ordered.

"The roads," the man noted, plucking one of the strings. "They're wider and newer and provide natural boundaries. It's easier to search this way than a grid search. The pins are men."

"One pin denotes?"

"One man, sir," the guy said quietly. "But these men aren't normal officers."

Jordan looked up to him speculatively.

"We're here," Marcher added quickly, pointing at a larger red pin. "The accident was here," he added, indicating a blue pin. "Their starting point is here," he added, pointing a green pin. "This is their hotel they'd been staying at," he added, indicating a purple.

"And this?" Jordan pointed at a pink one.

"Where they were possibly spotted this afternoon," the man shrugged. "Unfortunately, they fled and disappeared before visual confirmation could be made."

Jordan considered the map himself, thinking over what the group had done in Angels. For their first run, he'd gone into details with them about hiding spots and various approaches for your destination. If the mafia idiots knew that the Tiffan building was a spy source center, they'd have it guarded. If they didn't and the girls made straight for it, it would become obvious to them...both suggested a roundabout route to get to the building if the girls actually knew where it was.

So would they know?

He couldn't tell for sure, because he didn't test them on the information he gave them later. He assumed they'd see it all and memorize it all, but he hadn't pointed any of it out to them...meaning this was his fault, not entirely their bad...but no less annoying.

"Sir?" Marcher asked, almost concerned. "Maybe you should sleep."

"I slept on my flight," he retorted, raising his phone and showing it to the man. "I need a charged battery. I'm going to change, have it for me." He wrote the model of his phone down, then turned and left the room as the men stood to salute him again.

- -

December 2, A.C. 204. Manoi, Vietnam. 7pm

"Are you sure we're high enough?" Danielle muttered to her friend as they looked over the city-top. There were a few taller buildings, but they were far enough away to make them more a danger to get to than a help.

"We can't exactly get higher unless you want to get spotted again," Riley retorted, pacing back and forth across the roof they were on. They'd changed locations earlier in the day, and while buying blankets from a store in case they needed it for the night, a man in a black leather jacket had stopped and looked at them before smiling...and it hadn't been a normal sort of smile. It had been cocky and arrogant, and the sunglasses hadn't helped. They'd run for it when he'd tried to raise them, and he'd started to chase after. It had taken them a while to lose the guy, and now that they'd been able to eat, Riley was starting to think they'd run from a friend, not an enemy.

It was damn hard to tell, though. It'd be easier if the mafia stuck to their own racial stock and didn't gather up the locals.

...that made a helluva lot of sense, she needed to write a piece on it and submit it to the mafia council so they could see her reason and change the way things had ran for centuries.

She shook her head irritably.

"What do you think Jor is doing now?" Danielle muttered quietly.

"Pacing."

"Just because you are doesn't necessarily mean he is. Come on, Rile. Let's make a break for it and head for Tiffan."

Riley looked longingly in the direction of the building. They'd circled the city in their run, so they were on the far side as the headquarters they'd been in...but it was still beyond the taller buildings.

"We have to go in some time," Danielle noted pointedly. "We can get a taxi and run straight in, right?"

"Last time we did that, it nearly killed a man...at least I hope that's all it did."

Danielle looked away.

"I know we can't wait here forever," Riley added after a moment, looking around. "We have to get in somewhere and get someone to drive us. Maybe someone in this building," she added, looking down.

"Rile," Danielle muttered, pointing toward the tall building. "What does green mean?"

Riley looked up, spotting the green line of smoke.

"Is that an all clear?"

"No," Riley returned. "I don't know what it is...I don't recognize it."

Danielle rose to her feet, moving closer to it as she thought. "What if they didn't have any purple?"

"It's a government source building," Riley returned dryly. "They'd have every color they needed."

Another line of purple smoke shot straight up beside the first.

"What is it that Jordan says about the directions?" Danielle asked quietly. "West is orange, blue is south..."

"North is white and east is green!" Riley agreed excitedly, looking to her friend.

"So we come in from the east?" Danielle hazarded, looking around.

"I'm not so sure," Riley returned, biting her lip. "But that green means something."

"Let's just...try and go in," Danielle muttered quietly. "The purple was our signal anyway, regardless of the green."

"We aren't the only ones who can see that," Riley reminded her.

"Look at it this way, Riley," Danielle said dryly, looking up to her. "Damned if you do, damned if you don't."

Riley snorted at that, then looked down at the bag of stuff they'd collected. "We can at least head closer, huh?"

"Shit, why not?" Danielle muttered, shrugging as she leaned down to get the bag. "First blood sleeps with Mouthy."

"Why are you encouraging me to get shot?" Riley asked blankly.

Danielle gave her a level, but amused, look.

Riley flashed her a grin in return, considering the nearly dissipated smoke signals. "I think first blood stands forward for the lecture."

The other flinched appreciatively.

"Right, it's a deal," Riley noted, and started for the ladder.

"I'm gonna rescind my comment and say that the bad guys can't find us."

"Yeah, and Xane is an innocent giggling virgin," Riley agreed dryly as she disappeared down the side. "Let's go, lady. We have a long way to go yet."

"Shit, Riley," Danielle situated the bag she was carrying better. "What's one more day?"

"One more night," Riley returned wryly.

Danielle grinned, and started down the fire escape.

- -

December 2, A.C. 204. Manoi, Vietnam. 9pm

"So maybe taking the public bus was a bad idea," Danielle confided happily in Riley as they ran down another alleyway. "We knew they'd get us eventually."

"I don't understand why you're so damn chipper about this," Riley retorted as they turned and ran down another alley. "Sure, we're closer, but so are they."

"I gave the blanket and food to a kid on the street corner...one of those squatting in the corner kinds. It might help him, you know?"

Riley laughed at that as they came up to a wall. They looked around a moment, then jumped almost in unison for the fire escape ladder just above their head. Riley missed, but Danielle was smaller in stature and managed to grab ahold of it, so Riley grabbed ahold of her and hauled her down.

They heard the men chasing them coming nearer and darted up the thing. The back and forth nature of the fire escapes bugged them both, because it meant that half the time they were within range to get shot...but it wasn't exactly a tall building, and Danielle was just clearing the edge of the roof as the men turned into the alley.

"We had quite the lead goin' there for a while," Riley noted, looking around before pointing to a neighboring building. It was higher, but the fire escapes on either side meant they could jump it.

"I feel like a damn monkey," Danielle agreed as they darted for the thing...and flew though the air.

"Hey, let's go in," Riley whispered when she saw an open window.

"And start a riot? We'll get the poor people killed."

"Damn your logic," Riley retorted...and went over the building.

"We need to go down again," Danielle noted, realizing that the rest of the buildings were higher. "Get back to ground level and take a taxi a few blocks, huh?"

"All right," Riley agreed...and jumped to the next building that was a story or so lower.

Danielle hissed irritably as she followed her friend. Behind her, she could hear the men arguing about taking the alley or following like they had gone.

She doubted they could make the jumps, actually.

"My body is going to hate me if I'm alive tomorrow," Riley noted as they started down another fire escape. The girl hesitated though, looking at the stairs distastefully...before flipping to the outside of the railing and dropping down a level.

"If we're still alive tomorrow I'm going to hate you," Danielle noted...and followed suit.

"Oh, come on," Riley protested as she slid on to the final platform and guided her friend down. "As long as we can hear and not see them, this is damn adrenaline."

Danielle laughed her agreement, and they both stepped onto the ladder so it extended toward the ground.

She had to agree for now, but she wasn't so sure she would come morning.