Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Devil's Due ❯ - 19 - ( Chapter 19 )

— 19 —

December 2, A.C. 204. Base. 7am

Chai frowned as she poured herself a cup of coffee, then blew on it studying the vid. Jordan had called just after one in the morning to let her know he was there safely and that they were starting a plan to signal the pair of spies in. She'd been sleeping before the call, and now that it was...ten at night there, she wondered if he'd gotten anything done at all. He'd seemed disheartened when she'd talked to him, but that couldn't mean too much.

He'd trained them in Angels, there couldn't be much worse than that...could there?

Her imagination shuddered away from that idea.

She moved into her bedroom again, making sure her cell phone was still in the pocket of her pajamas. Quatre had gotten up and gone to work already, so she was free to worry and be antsy without interference...but she wasn't entirely sure she appreciated it.

She'd like it very much if her husband would call and say that they'd found the girls already...

Chai wasn't good with the whole waiting thing...anxiety frequently got the best of her.

- -

December 2, A.C. 204. Manoi, Vietnam. 10:30pm

"You're making my leg ache," Marcher noted tiredly to Jordan as he leaned against the guard building on the east side of the compound. "Stop pacing like that."

"I don't like to wait, Sergeant," Jordan returned, shifting his grip on his weapon. "It puts me in a foul mood."

"You're making me nervous," the guy retorted. Considering that they'd been head to head for the past five hours, Jordan didn't take the irritation in the tone personally.

"I have two people in the field," Jordan snapped, turning back to him. "They were tested once under true conditions in an entirely different setting."

"Trial by fire," the man reassured him. "No better way to get a good man..."

"Or get a good man killed," Jordan retorted.

"So little faith in people you trained yourself?" the guy actually sounded startled.

"No, it's called fear," Jordan retorted. "My five are my right hand...I'm damn fond of my right hand."

"I thought you had a wife."

Jordan snorted at that.

"I'm sorry!" the guy said quickly, straightening. "That was completely out of bounds..."

Jordan flashed him an amused look.

The guy studied him nervously, realizing he wasn't actually offended.

"What'd you do if two of your fingers were cut off?"

"Not shoot so well, depending on the fingers," the guy hazarded.

"Good one," Jordan confirmed. "For all that they'd be more like these fingers," he showed the guy his pinky and ring finger. "Important for detailed work."

The guy grinned slightly at that, moving a little closer. "Can you calm down?"

"Not very likely, no," Jordan returned, though he did stop and turn to look down the road.

"What...can I do something for you?" Marcher asked quickly. "Tea? Coffee? Food?"

"I'd probably puke if I put anything but water in my stomach," Jordan returned distantly. "Send up another purple flare...no, better yet, get your street teams to light up their bracelets. It's dark enough that if the girls are out they'll see them."

"But will they know them," the man returned. "They ran from my guy earlier."

"They're being searched for by the enemy," Jordan noted darkly. "They'll recognize it as long as the guys drew what I told them to."

"As much as they understood verbally," the man agreed.

"Bring them in from the outer limits, too," Jordan suggested. "If we have more men nearer us, the more there'll be to throw the enemy off."

"Sir, what is this enemy?" the guy asked quietly. "I have rank to do things, but not rank to read an SPC file from a three star."

"International arms smuggling," Jordan returned. "Mafia style black market bullshit."

"That's special enough for a three star?" the man sounded surprised.

"The arms are from the wars," Jordan noted. "There's an entire unit of mecha unaccounted for, and the weapons we've been bringing in from these guys are from the same area."

"What area?"

"Chile," Jordan noted, turning to look at him.

"Chile?" the guy demanded. "But we're in Vietnam."

"Maybe international is too succinct a way to put it," Jordan mused, looking back to the road. "Try global...trans global. Every country, no matter how tiny, every continent...everywhere big enough to have black market access."

Marcher was staring at him.

"Light up the bracelets, Sergeant," Jordan ordered, not quite turning to look at him. "I have a couple ladies in the city that I'd like home before the new day." He looked back to the road properly as Marcher started away. "Witching hour is a little too nigh for me to chance the sacrifice."

- -

December 2, A.C. 204. Manoi, Vietnam. 11pm

"I can't wait to get back home," Riley whispered to Danielle. "I can't wait to call him."

"I wonder what Wufei thinks," Danielle returned. They'd lost their immediate pursuers, but they weren't going to put any bets on that one...especially with the rain that had started falling fifteen minutes or so before.

Lightning flashed across the sky, and the roll of thunder was a breath later.

"Wonderful," Danielle noted, extending her hand palm upwards.

"Just keep walking," Riley suggested as they turned down another road...where they could see a man standing against a building. "Watch out," she muttered, noting his focus on her.

"What is that?" Danielle returned, focusing on a glowing band at the man's wrist. It was a dark color of green...and there was something drawn on it.

"I don't know, new fashion trend," Riley hissed back, starting to turn down an alley.

"No, Rile," Danielle caught the girl's arm. There was something familiar about that.

"Duvall?" the man asked, looking between them. "Mae?"

They both stopped.

The guy extended the bracelet...to show something that was like Jordan's crest...sort of.

They hesitated more.

"Maxwell says he needs his ladies in before the rain ruins their hair," the guy added.

"Who are you?" Riley asked, narrowing her eyes. He was definitely Asian, though they were in an Asian country so that was far from telling.

"My name is Zuey," he returned, "with the V.N.S.."

V.N.S. Vietnamese National Security officers. Riley let down her guard some.

"What do you mean, Maxwell said he needed his ladies before the rain? How would he know it's raining?"

"He's been pacing the east gate for three or four hours now," Zuey returned, moving closer to them. He frowned, considering the bracelet a moment. "I didn't get it right, did I? He said to draw two eyes...what did he mean?"

"Have you ever seen a Gundam?" Riley asked, then frowned. "What do you mean, pacing it for three hours?"

That was just about the right timing for the flares.

"I flew an MS in the wars," the guy noted, frowning slightly at them.

"Colony boy?" Danielle demanded.

"Does it matter?" the guy looked between them in disbelief. "What does it matter? Can we go? I seriously don't feel like playing sharpshooter on a public street when the jackasses find you again."

"Wait...Jordan is here?" Riley demanded.

"He got here around four," the guy agreed, moving even closer. "He's damned worried about the two of you."

"Show me that," Danielle ordered, pointing at the bracelet.

The guy sighed in slight exasperation and removed the thing, tossing it to her.

"What's up, Zuey?" another guy demanded, moving around the corner...then stopped. "Holy shit..."

"Don't come too close," Zuey noted without turning his head. "Show them the band."

"They aren't that trigger happy, are they?" the man demanded, stopping next to him. He did, however, show his own bracelet. "Shisu, V.N.S.," he added.

Riley pointed warningly at Zuey, then looked to Shisu. "What do you say?"

Shisu looked to Zuey briefly, noting his blank expression, then shrugged. "Maxwell told us to put these on, that when you saw them you'd come with us. Why?" he flashed the image on his band at them. "Something about eyes and claws."

"He didn't say claws," Zuey gave him a semi-disgusted look. "It was without flaws."

Riley and Danielle looked to each other.

"What the hell would that even mean?" Shisu retorted. "He said with claws." He shook his head, then pointed up the road. "I saw some of those chasers up there a ways. Whatever you're doing, you'll want to be getting away from here."

Danielle looked sharply to Riley.

"What was his message?" Riley asked Shisu.

"Message? That shit about his ladies getting their hair wet?" he rolled his eyes, looking up to the clouds. "He's in full battle dress at the east entrance muttering about their hair when the goddamn uniform is twenty on it's own...without the firearm."

"What color are his eyes?" Riley asked, narrowing her own at him.

"Blue," Shisu returned, giving her a confused look.

"They're purple," Zuey retorted, giving him another look. "You didn't even see him."

"I've seen pictures of him, his eyes are blue," the guy retorted.

"I shook his hand, and I say they're purple," Zuey retorted.

"Whatever," Shisu seemed annoyed by that, moving toward the girls. "Let's go."

"That wouldn't have been all he said to you," Danielle noted, looking between them.

Shisu focused on her, then obviously started thinking.

"He said he wanted some tea or something," Zuey hazarded. "Something about chai and being upset..."

"Chai is his wife," Riley noted, rolling her eyes.

Both men stopped and looked at each other.

"Aren't you supposed to be spies or something?" she demanded of them. "Don't you know verbatim?"

"I think that was bad grammar?" Shisu offered.

Riley gave him a very level look, then looked to Danielle.

Danielle studied the eyes drawn on the green bracelet, then looked up to her friend and shrugged, offering it over.

She didn't think the mafia assholes would get that subtle in their machinations. They didn't seem patient enough to find out that much about Jordan himself.

Riley considered the bracelet herself a moment, then nodded her agreement.

There was too much information for it to just be a coincidence.

They started down the alley as a car turned behind them...and Shisu shoved them both against the wall, stopping in front of Zuey as the car slowed and stopped at the alley entrance.

The window rolled down and an Asian guy poked his head out and rambled off in some Asian language.

That was great...it seemed damned short sighted not to tell one from the other.

Shisu responded irritably, gesturing with something in his hand. The guy in the car retorted, and they argued for a handful of minutes as Shisu started to grow increasingly more agitated.

"Fine, I believe you," the guy snapped in English. "What the hell are you even doing?"

"That's my business," Shisu retorted with a suddenly horrible accent. "Get the fuck out of here."

The man considered him a moment, then rolled up the window. It took several more moments for the car to pull away.

"Come on," Zuey suggested. "It shouldn't take them too long to figure out we don't have anything. My van is up there," he pointed.

"And we're going where?" Riley asked nervously, moving quickly to the indicated vehicle.

"Tiffan Verien," Shisu responded without the accent. "Straight for the east gate."

- -

December 2, A.C. 204. Manoi, Vietnam. 11:20pm

Jordan noted one of the dark green vans moving toward the gates and narrowed his eyes as it stopped...and didn't turn. It pulled carefully up to him, and he noted one of the men he'd shaken hands with earlier.

Did he have them?

The gate guard let the man through, and Jordan followed the van as it moved behind the thick stonewalls...and two more heads popped up.

His heart jumped slightly as one of the forms moved to the door and the van stopped abruptly. The driver was protesting at someone...as the door slid open.

"Jordan!" Riley squeaked, darting from the machine to throw herself into his arms...and start to cry. A moment later, Danielle had joined as well, both crying hard into his chest.

"So much for the safety of the building," the passenger noted in vague amusement, sliding from the van to study them.

"They were only gone a few hours when he decided to fly here," the driver noted, also moving around to join them. "I'd have to be missing at least twenty four hours before my superiors thought to come after me."

"If the way they're crying means anything," the passenger said quietly, "then they probably weren't ready for this."

Jordan gave him a very sad look as Riley calmed herself back down, pulling away to smile weakly up at him.

"You all right, pussycat?" he asked quietly.

"Don't call me that," she returned, rubbing at her eyes. "I'm sorry...it was just damn stressful."

"You did it, though," Jordan reminded her. "You got back."

"Only because they showed up," she returned, looking disheartened as she gestured at the two men.

"What? My resources in Manoi?" Jordan asked curiously. "You're supposed to rely on them."

Riley blinked at him, then noted that Danielle was still crying.

"Come on," Jor suggested gently to the girl, starting her for the van. "Let's get inside."

"Dude," the passenger muttered when they got nearer to him. "His eyes are purple!"

Jordan looked up to him in disbelief.

"That's wicked," the guy noted, moving in closer to look at him. "And with the lights and shit," he gestured behind himself. "Man...can I?" he asked, pulling out his cell phone.

"For what?" Jordan returned skeptically.

"He's an artist," the driver noted dryly. "It'll find itself into some great work of art."

"Just one, huh?" the guy persisted, bouncing slightly. "I know it's weird...but I have this idea..."

"If you don't do it," the driver noted, "he'll get into one of those artist slumps and go run around on a binge trying to find someone else with purple eyes."

"And why should that sway me?" Jordan asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Standing still for three seconds so he can get this picture of your eyes, or him losing his damn mind for the next year because of it," the man retorted.

"Just do it," Riley muttered irritably. "I want to get showered and in clean clothes."

Jordan snorted, looking to her a moment, then nodded once at the artist.

The guy beamed at him, but had evidently made his camera ready in the interim. He snapped the shot almost instantly, then grinned happily at the result before turning it...to show Jordan an image of his own eye that was a severe mix of light and shadow...which actually looked kinda neat.

He blinked.

"Come on," the driver suggested. "He's going to be manic for the next few hours before he can get that onto his computer...let's just...go."

"How did you do that?" Jordan asked, climbing carefully in and adjusting Danielle accordingly as she continued to cling to him.

"There are lights all over out here," the guy returned, his eyes bright as he looked back at Jordan. "And the way you were standing and the way your hair was...I would have died if you'd have moved."

Jordan gave him an amused look.

"Hm, by the way," the driver noted, looking back to him...and saluting.

The passenger's jaw dropped as he realized what he'd just done, and he went rigid as he saluted respectfully...and melted into his seat.

"Shisu, he forgets the rank tags all the time," Riley noted, moving to lean against her superior. "You don't have to be mortified."

"I'll do it all the same," the guy returned.

Jordan grinned very slightly, looking to...a bracelet Danielle was holding. He pulled it from her and studied the eyes on it before looking to Riley in confusion.

She indicated the driver with a shrug.

"I said...eyes with a fog," Jordan noted, looking between them. "Didn't you understand me?"

Riley started laughing as she clung to his arm...funny, how comforting one man could be...like a father or a brother...a lover. Jordan was none of that, but his mere presence was confidence and protection.

She was damn glad he hadn't decided to wait twenty some odd hours to go find her...she liked it better that he was present.