Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Perfect Assassin ❯ Number Two ( Chapter 8 )

[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]

PERFECT ASSASSIN

Disclaimer: I do not own Gundam Wing or its characters in any way.

CHAPTER EIGHT: NUMBER TWO

Duo sped to the scene at Preventers' once he was notified of the grave situation. The moment he reached the crime scene, Trowa and Wufei were already inspecting the office of the former Dominic Sackheim. Drenched in his blood, Sackheim was crouched over stacks of unsigned papers and contracts, arms sprawled openly on both ends of the mahogany table.

Once his foot entered the room, the empowering stench of death caught up with Duo. The smell of a rotting corpse was never pleasant and he couldn't help himself when he tried walking closer to his fellow colleagues by placing the greatest amount of distance between himself and the dead body. Members from the coroner's office were already in the process of gently removing Sackheim's lifeless form from his seat while other officers were collecting evidence and taking pictures of the scene.

"Took you long enough Maxwell. Une called half an hour ago." Wufei accused.

Ignoring Wufei, Duo nudged Trowa and asked, "Do we have anything yet?"

Tilting his head downward for a few seconds, Trowa's mass of hair fell over his solemn visage as he responded. "Nothing. All we know is Sackheim was killed with only one shot. No suspect."

"One shot? You're kidding. Where did the guy aim, the heart?" Duo asked.

"Far as we know. One clear shot and everything was over. Sackheim didn't even feel a thing." Trowa replied drearily.

"Perhaps he didn't see it coming." The Chinese soldier added. "Why didn't Sackheim put up a fight? The least he could have done was reach the phone and this place would have been surrounding within a minute. Notice how close his right arm is to the phone…" Wufei suggested as he motioned to the body with a nod of the head.

"Noted." Trowa announced as he recorded the exact image of the crime scene into his memory.

"It's still early. We'll figure this out." Duo reassured.

"Une wants this resolved as soon as possible." Wufei reminded them all as they exited the room. "We wouldn't want his death leading out to the media."


~*~*~

Ten days later, another victim was on their list. William Smith was visiting his relatives for the weekend on Colony L4 when his body was discovered along the beach. In order to distinguish this murder from the Sackheim case, they looked for similarities and differences. Unfortunately, William Smith too, was killed with a bullet to the chest, no more, no less. At first, they thought it was a random assault but after two deaths from the same government, people were beginning to panic.


"You had a week!" Une hollered impatiently. While she was behind her desk, the former Gundam pilots assigned to the case stood their ground on the opposite side. "Kindly explain to me why we have uncovered nothing? How can there be no suspect after a week? Hell, you had more than a week. And now, we have another death in our hands. The Smith family will not take this too gently."

"We are well aware of the situation, Lady Une." Trowa explained calmly. There was no point in having both sides raising their voices at each other. "We know that we don't have a serial killer in our hands. The assailant had predetermined both victims and it is only a matter of time for us to figure out what the pattern is."

"Yes, that's right." Duo acknowledged. "William Smith and Dominic Sackheim were very well-known people of the community. I believe the connection between the two men is that they were members of the executive board in Relena's government."

"There is definitely a connection there." Une agreed as she reclaimed her seat behind her desk. "Continue working on this case and while you're at it, I have requested Heero Yuy to join you."

"Yuy?" Wufei retorted while signifying the three men standing before her. "We are perfectly capable of resolving this issue on our own."

"That may be true. However, we have been unable to recover any traces of evidence from both crime scenes: not a scratch, not a fiber, not a hair, not even a goddamn fingerprint that is out of the ordinary." Une reminded them. "Yuy will be joining you and that is final. I will not tolerate any complaints. We must have the killer captured and soon."

"But…"

Before Wufei could complete his thought, Trowa interrupted. "Une, we will greatly appreciate the extra support." Without waiting for Une's reply, Trowa stepped out of her office and the other two Gundam pilots followed obediently but reluctantly.



"Barton, what the hell were you doing? We do not need Yuy in this. We have enough idiots on this godforsaken team as it is." He claimed, pointing in Duo's direction.

"Hey! What are you talking about, Wufei? If you allowed some clean oxygen into that pig-headed brain of yours then…"

"Enough!" Trowa ordered strictly. "We have work to do. Heero will be meeting us in twenty minutes."


~*~*~

Relena Darlian had no idea how she was going to keep up her act of innocence. Day by day, the walls seemed to be constricting her movements both physically and mentally, and it grew more difficult to breathe. There were plenty of times when she wanted to scream to the world that she was the one who killed the two men, people whom she admired deeply. But what was she to say? 'I had to kill them in order to prevent the deaths of billions?' Right. She was sure after explaining it all to the officials from Preventers', she would only get a slap on the wrist and be on her way. If only life were so easy.

Then again, how could she live with herself after tasting the bitterness of murdering other individuals. Relena expected to receive the worst punishment there was in the federal system. Furthermore, she would gladly accept her punishment with open arms. "I don't deserve to live." She murmured.

Hours after landing on Colony L4, Larson Quentin contacted her once again and she was expected to 'dispose' of William Smith since he was so conveniently at the same location as her. She recollected the short conversation they had over her cell phone and she wished she had never answered the ringing call in the first place.


"I want victim number two delivered by the end of this week, Relena. As soon as you do your job, no one will get hurt." Quentin's words were caught on replay in her mind. She chuckled inwardly at the irony of his statement: 'no one will get hurt.' Two men were already dead by her hands. From two swift motions of her handgun, lives were unjustly taken from this world and she will have to live with the guilt for the rest of her life.

She wondered, "Was this how he felt when he ruined so many lives, robbed them of their humanity? Did he feel as worthless as she does now?" Kneeling beside her hotel bed on L4, she no longer had the strength to hold her head up high in dignity, for she had none.

Feeling dizzy and nauseous, she used all the strength in her muscles to pull herself into bed and to drift into an unconscious state of sleep, praying she would never awaken.



TBC…