Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Devil's Due ❯ - 58 - ( Chapter 58 )

— 58 —

March 24, A.C. 205. Zenica, Tanzania. 8 am

Xane could remember having heard something before about “Murphy’s Law”, and it wound down to something like…anything that could go wrong would go wrong.

He and Judas had made quick work of entering the residence, and just as they’d gotten in, someone had come in from a far door off the garage. This had then made it necessary to duck into the supposed bathroom…which it was…and wait…while someone went down the stairs to the basement.

Judas had his laptop flipped around so they could see the room on the front-screen…and a bright light flicked on.

Two men darted away from the stairs as a third half-rose to his feet.

They were all bruised and battered, and the man who’d come in from the garage had a wicked sort of smirk on his face…and the camera view flicked to the parking lot again.

“Shitshitshit,” Judas hissed, fiddling with a button on the side of the machine so it toggled through the screens back to the basement feed…to show the man kicking one of the three guys as he started for the door. The light was left on as the man disappeared, and the man who’d been kicked limped over to drop near a heavy table, that food had been set on.

“Does that satisfy you enough that we rescue?” Xane hissed at him.

“I’m here with you, aren’t I?” Judas retorted as the man who’d delivered the food moved through the kitchen again.

“What if they have a live feed on in there?” Xane hissed. “What if they have all the cameras on live?”

“Then we’d be caught already, dumb ass,” Judas retorted.

“We need to,” Xane muttered darkly, looking away. “We need to do it.”

“The scrambler?” Judas asked, looking to him. “You said yourself they’d all be suspicious.”

“We can…um…” Xane fidgeted. “What can we do?”

“We’ll have to turn the light back out,” Judas mused, looking back to the feed as the three guys started picking dispiritedly at the food. He flicked through the single-feed cameras, since he’d opened them as well as the scanning window.

“If we take them now, they’ll know someone is coming for them,” Xane noted, pressing a nail to his teeth. “If we wait in here, there’s a chance we’ll get caught…should we wait for them to land?”

“Where?” Judas asked darkly…then pointed as one of the doors on the upper level opened and a man moved from it with a cell phone to his ear. He was nodding as he talked, then turned and started down the stairs.

“Why did they all have to start moving at eight?” Xane whined slightly.

“Shush,” Judas whispered back, flicking to the foyer camera as the man pulled the phone away from his ear, then turned into the kitchen. That was followed as well, and they watched with interest as the man started digging through cupboards.

“So,” Xane muttered, sitting back against the tub, “do I dare say it?”

“Not this morning, Mouthy,” Judas sighed. “I’m not really up for it this morning.”

“But if I said it, we could probably start acting,” Xane protested.

Judas hit him hard in the arm.

Xane grinned, running his hands down his face, then gestured at the toilet with his head. “You suppose I could use that?”

“You gotta piss?” Judas demanded, giving him a look.

Xane flashed him a grin.

“You’re a sick fuck,” Judas noted, looking back to the laptop screen. “I want you to know that.”

Xane sighed, then looked to the very white ceiling.

“If a tree falls in the woods,” Judas whispered again.

“With Jordan nearly here?”

“In two hours,” the man snapped, looking up from the laptop screen. “You honestly want to wait in here for two hours?”

Xane shrugged slightly. “The way I see it…we don’t really have that much of a choice.”

- -

March 24, A.C. 205. Zenica, Tanzania. 8:30 am

Mario paced nervously at the edge of the lot he and the other soldiers were in. A couple of them had come up with skateboards, and since the parking lot mainly seemed empty, they were “practicing” their skating ability to explain their presence.

He hated waiting, especially when the end result was possible death. It was different on their normal missions. On those, Yuy’d have word that they might be needed so they’d be sitting around messing with their gear until he came in and started yelling for them to move. There were times when they just shined their gear up and Yuy would get the call that he wasn’t necessary, so those waiting bits weren’t remotely the same.

Actually, the main thing was that he was needed here. Featihl had called him specifically for his aid.

“You’re go, man,” Meyer noted, shoving him at the skateboard.

“I don’t know how,” Mario shot back irritably.

“Why do you think we’re here?” Meyer asked happily, shoving him again. “Just get on the thing, when you fall three times we’ll let you off the hook.”

Mario frowned at him, then moved forward to the board as the other guys encouraged him happily. They all knew him, they were all friends, they’d all saved each other’s asses time and again. They knew what he needed was a distraction…and as was his now age-old custom, he let them succeed.

- -

March 24, A.C. 205. Zenica, Tanzania. 9 am

It proved somewhat hard to wash your hands without the sink making noise, but Judas managed it as Xane watched the camera feed. The machine was open and plugged into an outlet, which meant they had all the cameras visible on the screen.

It had to be the stupidest thing in the world, and Judas turned to pace the reasonably large bathroom they were in.

“I can’t believe we’ve been in here for an hour,” he hissed.

“Turrell is on his phone again,” Xane noted in return. “You know what would be killer? If he left. I think a goodly number of the guys in the garage would go with him.”

“We have no proof there’re any more than one,” Judas retorted.

“No one’s out and about down here. Go find out,” Xane muttered, making a gesture at the door. “I’ll put the laptop back in the bag so we can break if we have to, just be sure to catch a camera if you have to run.”

Judas gave him a look.

“We need to know what’s in that garage before we can do anything anyway,” Xane reminded him, giving him a look. “If we have to run we can just go to the airport and let Jor know what’s up.”

Judas sighed, rolled his eyes, then pulled out his weapon to check his clip. He put that away, then leaned down to tighten the laces of his boots. “I’ll take the front and go to Mario if I have to,” he muttered. “You go through the yards and do whatever you do to get back to your mission. Deal?”

“Deal,” Xane agreed, watching him move to the door and turn the handle slowly. “Foyer,” he noted.

Judas nodded, then slid out the door as Xane hit the buttons to keep all the screens visible on the mini top screen. It made all the feeds tiny, but all he needed to see was Judas leaving.

Judas darted out the back door they’d used to come in, and slunk low against the building as he headed toward the garage. There was a back entrance to the building, and a window on either side.

The spy slid around the back of the building carefully, then turned slowly to look in the corner of the window on the far side of the garage.

He could see at least three guys sitting at a couch. One was sleeping, one was staring into a coffee cup, and the other had a remote and was aiming it tiredly at a tv screen. Judas ducked down under the window and moved up on the other side…to see a somewhat large screen with the rotating feed. There were two guys sitting there. The one who’d kicked the man in the basement was sleeping in a chair, and the second had a book.

A sharp ringing of a phone made the two he could see jump, and his heart nearly slid down his throat into his stomach as there was a noise right behind his head.

“Hello?” a man asked. “Yeah? Right now? All right…we’ll get the truck ready, then. Right.” The noise came again. “All right, he wants to go meet Mishrav for breakfast. Someone go turn the light off.”

That got grumbles before a door opened across the room and the sound of general movement met Judas’ ears. He slid below the window and glanced in again to see the men were strapping on holsters.

So how many would go? All of them? Would one stay to watch the camera? More? How concerned was Turrell for his own safety? Did the guy mean the light to the basement room? Why would they turn that off if they were gone?

He ducked around to the back side again and waited tensely, hearing more doors opening and closing, as well as laughter and conversation before a truck started…then the car.

Wouldn’t this be the time to pray? To which god, though? Did Jordan or Chance actually count as gods?

“Morning, sir,” someone muttered.

“Morning,” a more officious sounding voice agreed. “You’re driving today, then?”

“Yes.”

“Good,” the man muttered…and a car door shut. After a moment, a second door shut, then a third. After a long moment, a fourth did as well, and Judas listened to the sound of the front-entry gate rolling open.

Judas focused hopefully on what he wanted to happen, looking to the sky again…it really was a gorgeous morning. The sky was a crisp and clear blue and there were birds twittering all around, coupled with the background noise of traffic out on the main street…and he’d spent most of it in a bathroom.

That wasn’t fair, that was some sort of cosmic joke…

The gate ground shut again, and Judas waited a long moment before moving back around to the window.

The tv was still on, but no one was sitting at the table. He ducked under the window again and looked carefully at the other side of the room…to see the man who’d been reading still sitting there with his book. The camera flashed to the basement again, and the light was definitely off.

That…some god somewhere was helping he and Xane out…

And that was all. There was no one else in the garage, and presumably no one else left in the house.

Judas darted under the window…and headed back for the bathroom.

- -

Xane looked up to the door as Judas slid back into the room with him, and he was grinning broadly.

“Well?” Xane asked.

“One guy left, reading a book. The camera is on the flashing, so if we time it to a cycle, we can get in and out no problem.”

“Why did they turn the light down there off?”

“I almost care,” Judas noted happily. “Almost, however, only counts in horseshoes and grenades. Get your badge out.”

Xane nodded, shoving the laptop back into the backpack as Judas strapped the thing to his chest and dug his own badge out.

“We can get down there and explain who we are, show them the badges with a flashlight until it hits the basement, then we’ll have another three minutes to get out of there,” Xane muttered as they both stood near the door.

“Right,” Judas agreed, flashlight in hand.

It flashed to the basement…and they both moved, watching down the hall toward the kitchen as the camera flashed into the living room. They darted into the basement room with the flashlights on.

“Who’s there?” someone demanded in a scared sounding voice.

“First lieutenant Xane Featihl of the I.E.C.,” Xane said, flashing the flashlight onto his badge.

“First lieutenant Judas Ifhera, of the I.E.C.,” Judas agreed, also showing his badge. “Do you speak English?”

“Yes,” the man agreed, nervous. “What’s going on?”

“Are you Martin Zihrel, Leo Tozas, and Wil Reik?” They’d confirmed it with the information on the laptop, but it always did good to ask.

“Yes,” the man agreed. “We are.”

“Then unless something goes horribly wrong, we’re here to rescue you,” Xane said happily. “Unfortunately, it’s not all sweet and easy like blazing guns and shining glory…where’s it at, Jude?”

“Just hit the parking lot again…are you all three capable?” he flashed his light across the other two men.

“Yes,” the first agreed nervously. “What do you mean? I don’t understand.”

“There are cameras all over this house,” Judas explained. “We’ll give you the details later. When we say, we’re all going right up those stairs and out the back door into the yard…and over the back fence. Me’n Xane will help you over, then from there we’ll run like pussies to our back-up.”

“If there are cameras all over,” a second man started.

“Trust me,” Judas snapped…and he and Xane turned off their flashlights. They watched as the camera showed the basement again nervously. “Come toward us slowly…we don’t want the man reading to notice anything.”

“All right,” the third male said quietly.

The pair of spies listened as the guys moved closer, then flicked their lights on.

“Let’s move,” Judas ordered, shining his light on the stairs as Xane darted up them and carefully opened the door.

Their hearts were pounding as they slid from the basement room with the three men, then across the hall and out the doors. Xane pulled two of the guys to him to one side as Judas pulled the other with him to the other…as the camera flashed to the undisturbed view of the hallway.

“Go!” Xane added quietly, shoving his two at the fence.

The trio moved instantly, and the one Judas had grabbed immediately moved to help the smaller of his two comrades to start scrambling over the fence…it was grey river-rock sort of stuff. Xane started helping the third up as the other guy fell off the top into the far yard with an oof . Judas didn’t waste time asking if he were all right, he shoved the first man up and over.

“You got it?” Judas hissed at Xane.

“Of course I do,” Xane retorted, then stepped back and hopped up…instantly taking the backpack from Judas as the man also stepped back and jumped.

They were over the fence that quick, and hunkered down on the far side as the three men looked around wildly, trying to shield their eyes from the bright sunlight with eyes that hadn’t seen true daylight…in at least a month.

“Let’s go,” Xane ordered, and led them to the left. It was the same path he and Judas had taken to get there to begin with.

“I take it they have rotating cameras?” the main speaker asked Judas as they moved out onto the sidewalk…and straightened themselves out to walk normally.

All of them did, which was what made Xane remember that they were spies as well.

“Yeah,” Judas agreed. “Thirty seconds per camera, and they only went to the basement every other cycle.”

“You’re first lieutenants?” the smaller asked, looking between them, then grinned and saluted.

“Oh yeah, now is the time for formality,” Xane grumped at him, pulling out his phone. “My superior will be here within the next hour,” he added, noting that it was nine-thirty as he glanced at his watch. “And they’ll be taking him down.”

“He’s Colonel Stanly Turrell, formerly of Chile,” the main talker noted quickly. “He’s been inciting the rumors of invasion to sell stolen mobile suits and arms to the local populace for a hefty profit.”

“Amazingly enough,” Judas noted, “we figured that out already.”

The guy grinned at him. “He was going to kill me, I’m not sure why he didn’t.”

“Mario?” Xane asked happily as they neared a corner. “Where are you?”

“Parking lot in the middle of the next block,” Mario returned instantly. “Where are you? What do you need?”

“We need you to start your engines,” Xane replied easily. “We have our blind mice and would very much like to get back to the comforts of our mission building.”

“Are you being followed?” Mario demanded, moving out onto the sidewalk in front of them since the parking lot entrance wasn’t even four hundred feet way.

“No, we’re not,” Xane replied happily. “But let’s not test chance, huh? He gets pissy.”

Mario snorted, turning and making the go gesture to whoever he had with them. The group of five joined Yuy’s second and followed him into an area with two vans.

“We aren’t playing get away,” Judas noted to the driver of the second machine as the three men they’d saved climbed into the van with Mario. “We don’t want attention brought to us, so we’re following the rules and going back to your mission building.”

“Sir,” the driver agreed promptly as Xane gave the same instructions to the driver of their van.

Judas looked the parking lot over warily, then slid into the van himself and slid the door closed.

“Now that we’ve reached something like safety,” the third man muttered, looking between the two of them. “Let me be the first to thank you.”

“That’s not necessary,” Xane muttered, raising his cell again. “But I appreciate it.”

“Talk to me,” Judas heard Jordan’s stressed tones.

“Hey, baby,” Xane greeted the man, rubbing a hand down his neck. “Did ya miss me?”

“I won’t next time, I’ve been practicing,” Jordan noted.

Xane laughed, running his hand down his face. “We’ve got them…all three of them.”

There was no response.

“We’re heading back to the mission building…and now I’ll stay put like a good little puppy…but you owe me a biscuit.”

“Do you mean biscuit cookie or biscuit bread?” Jordan’s tone was full of a sort of relief.

“I really don’t care right now, oh mighty leader,” Xane returned, looking out the window. “Be my sun?”

Jordan laughed weakly and fell quiet a long moment before sighing. “Sure, Mouthy…I’ll be your spring.”

Xane grinned slightly and closed his phone, tucking it back into his pocket.

“Was that your superior or your boyfriend? Or is there a distinguishment?” the main talker asked happily.

“That was our superior,” Judas explained. “And he’s married to a woman, so he’s not a boyfriend.”

“That we know of,” the smaller of the three noted happily, then pointed at Xane. “You gonna let me use that?”

“Not until we get back to the mission,” Xane returned. “I have a scrambler set up there and we can start all sorts of things happening there…including showers, if you want,” he looked them over.

“A shower would be king,” the quiet one noted. “Fuck, a shower would be emperor.”