Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Family Ties ❯ Chapter 41 ( Chapter 41 )

"Family Ties"

 

January. 2007 ShenLong

 

Chapter 41

 

It took Une a moment to connect the dots and realize she was speaking with one of the terrorists, before she had a chance to speak though, Jefferies got in first.

 

“Now see here, I don't know what your game is, but I speak for the entire ESUN in regards to these ridiculous demands of yours. The L2 colony cluster is receiving the same amount of funding as all the other colonies. We have the information here in black and white; purchases, deliveries and so forth. All the colonies have received the same amount.”

 

“I beg to differ,” came the cold voice. Clearly, the man was not amused.

 

“Then I suggest you take a look at it for yourself. If we are to grant more funding to L2 then the other colonies will miss out and before you know it, there will be another war,” Jefferies snapped.

 

“If L2 doesn't get the funding, then another war will be the least of your worries,” growled the distorted voice.

 

“Don't you threaten…”

 

“Shut up!” Une snarled.

 

Jefferies went red and promptly closed his mouth.

 

Une turned her attention to the vid screen. “What the senator says is true. We have the detailed inventories for all assistance given to the colonies and L2 is receiving the same as all the other colonies.”

 

“Tell me something, commander. Have you taken a trip out to the colonies recently?”

 

“Well, no, not lately,” Une replied.

 

“Then maybe you should and see for yourself the difference in the amount of reconstruction, support and assistance between them.”

 

“I don't see...”

 

The voice on the vid phone cut her off. “You have twenty-three hours left.” The call was terminated.

 

* * *

 

“Damn it all to hell,” snarled Duo as he tossed the safety pin to the table and glared at the radio.

 

“What's wrong?' asked the nurse from where she was sitting on the bed attempting to amuse Keitaro.

 

Duo sighed and ran his fingers through his bangs. “This would be a whole lot easier if I had some solder and a soldering iron.”

 

“Ah. Anything I can do to help?”

 

“Not really.” Duo blew out a puff of air. “I've figured out the circuitry and which wires I need to swap around to transmit, problem is, once I remove them from their current place in the circuit board, I need something to secure them to the new position.”

 

Margaret remained silent, her mind ticking over as she tried to think of anything Duo might be able to use.

 

“Shit, someone's coming,” Duo suddenly announced and quickly pushed the back of the radio in place, switching the small thing on and letting the soft sounds of music fill the air. He slipped the safety pin into his pocket and tried to look as innocent as possible.

 

Duric opened the door and entered, Murphy right behind him carrying a tray with their breakfast on it. Duric kept his gun in clear sight, leaving no doubt he would use it if necessary. Setting the tray down, Murphy picked up the used dishes from the previous evening's meal and prepared to leave.

 

“Could we have some more hot water, please?” asked Nurse Brown. “The thermos is almost empty and I need to make up more formula for the baby.”

 

“I'll see what I can do,” Murphy gruffed.

 

“Any chance of a candle?” Duo asked innocently.

 

“A candle? What the fuck do you want a candle for?” Duric snapped.

 

“It does get a little dark down here at night.”

 

“Awww, is the big, bad Preventer agent scared of the dark?” Murphy tormented.

 

Duo bit his lip and clenched his fists, it took all his self control not to get up and knock Murphy's head off his shoulders. “No, it's for the child. He gets a little scared sometimes,” Duo growled out.

 

“I'll talk to the boss,” Duric snarled then turned to Murphy, “Get the stuff and get out.”

 

Murphy checked he had all the dishes and then with one last sneer at Duo, he left the basement, Duric behind him.

 

Once the two men had left and the door lock clicked, Duo breathed a sigh of relief and went to see what was on the breakfast tray. There was a small bowl of baby cereal for Keitaro, several slices of toast, some butter and a little jam. Picking up the bowl of cereal, Duo took his son from the nurse and sat him on his lap ready to feed.

 

Margaret managed to wedge a piece of toast between the plate and her hand with the broken wrist, keeping it still so she could spread the butter and jam over it. As she worked her mind was wondering what on earth Duo could possibly want with a candle. Finally, her curiosity got the better of her.

 

“Duo? Why did you ask for a candle? You know as well as I do that Keitaro isn't afraid of the dark.”

 

Duo grinned. “I know that, but they don't. No, I had a thought. I can use the candle wax as a sort of solder to hold the wires in place. The wax should act as a conductor and allow the circuit to connect.”

 

The nurse's eyes lit up and a smile graced her lips. “Duo, that's brilliant,” she said. “Are you sure it will work?”

 

“Only one way to find out,” Duo smiled back.

 

“I hope they do let us have a candle then.”

 

“So do I,” muttered Duo.

 

* * *

 

The conference room sat in stunned silence for a couple of minutes after the call was terminated, then everyone began to talk at once. Ignoring the chatter for the moment, Une grabbed her communication unit and pressed a couple of buttons.

 

“Commander?”

 

“Did you manage to get a trace on that call, Agent Rain?”

 

“Ah, not quite, ma'am.”

 

“What do you mean, not quite?” Une demanded.

 

“The call was terminated before we could get a proper fix on the signal. It's been sent through a series of relays, bounces back and forth off satellites and such. Whoever this person is, they know what they're doing in regards to covering their tracks,” Agent Rain replied.

 

Une sighed. “How much of a lock did you manage to get?”

 

“Err...”

 

“Agent Rain?” Une's voice held a sharp edge to it.

 

“We managed to track it as far as the States, ma'am.”

 

“The States?” Une's voice was now bordering on the sarcastic.

 

“Yes, ma'am.”

 

“So, you're telling me that these terrorists are somewhere in the States?”

 

“Ah, correct.”

 

“Agent, have you any idea how big an area the States covers?”

 

“Yes, ma'am.”

 

“Then I suggest you and your men had better get cracking on tracking these guys down; and while you're at it, I also recommend you get that equipment upgraded. I need results, Agent, not excuses,” Une growled.

 

“But, ma'am, that is going to be practically impossible, the locat-”

 

“Agent Rain?!” Une barked.

 

The agent swallowed. “Yes, ma'am?”

 

“Get to it - NOW!”

 

“Ah, roger that. Rain out.”

 

With a long suffering sigh, Une disconnected the com and slipped it back into her pocket. Resisting the urge to pull her hair and scream, she took a deep breath and prepared to confront the outraged delegates who were still arguing amongst each other. Before she could speak, Relena appeared at her elbow.

 

“Une? I don't know if this is the right time or not, but I have the name of the senator in charge of the Colony Rebuilding Scheme and the associated committee.”

 

“Thank you, Relena. If you could give me that information I will pass it on to Yuy and Chang, then see what we can sort out with this rabble.” Une inclined her head towards the rest of the delegates who were still arguing amongst themselves.

 

Relena smiled and handed over a piece of paper. Taking the paper, Une glanced at it and then left the room to go into the anti chamber and place her call.

 

* * *

 

“Maxwell-Yuy residence,” Quatre answered the phone.

 

“Hello, Quatre, can I speak to either Wufei or Heero, please?”

 

“Lady Une,” Quatre smiled. “Of course, I'll go get one of them now. Oh, any further news?”

 

“Yes and no. I'll let one of the others fill you in,” Une replied.

 

“No problem. I won't be a moment.” Quatre left the phone and went to fetch Heero. Entering the study, he noted Wufei at the computer and Heero napping on the couch.

 

Spotting the blonde form the corner of his eye, Wufei turned his attention form the screen to the other man and raised an eyebrow.

 

“Une is on the 'phone,” Quatre said.

 

“Ah. Thanks.” Wufei stood and left the room, following Quatre to the vid phone. “Commander?”

 

“Chang. I have some information for you. Relena has given me the list of the committee members and the senator in charge of the Rebuilding Scheme.”

 

Wufei's eyes lit up.

 

“Do you have a pen and paper handy?”

 

“One moment.” Chang turned to scan around for a pen and paper when Quatre materialized with the items in his hand. Wufei took them with a questioning look in his eye.

 

Quatre shrugged. “A little hard not to hear the conversation. Sorry, I didn't mean to pry or listen in.”

 

“It's okay, Winner. Thank you.” Wufei took the pen and paper then turned back to the screen. “Ready, commander.”

 

Looking at the piece of paper, Une began to read off the list of names, Wufei wrote them down.

 

“Thank you, commander. I'll get right onto this.”

 

“There's something else, Chang. We had a call a few minutes ago from the terrorists.”

 

“But the time isn't up yet.”

 

“I know and so do they. It was a courtesy call I suppose you could say. They wanted to know what results we had.”

 

“And?”

 

“What could I tell them? All we currently have is that L2 is receiving the same as all the other colonies.”

 

“What did they say?”

 

“They weren't impressed and insisted that their original demands still be met.”

 

“I see.”

 

“Chang, I don't think I need to say this, but I will anyway. I need you and Yuy to do your best to find out what you can. If what Maxwell was guessing is correct, then this presents a whole new ball game,” Une's voice sounded grim.

 

“I understand perfectly, commander. We will do everything in our power to track this down. I will contact you soon.”

 

“Thank you, Chang.”

 

“Chang out.” Wufei cut the call and leaned back in his chair, a puff of air escaping his lips. He glanced at the paper with the names written on it before picking it up.

 

“It's not sounding too good,” Quatre said as he reappeared with a cup of green tea and handed it to Wufei.

 

“No, it isn't,” Wufei agreed and took the offered tea. “Thank you.”

 

“You're welcome. Anything Trowa and I can do to help?”

 

“I'm not sure.” Wufei rubbed his hand across his face. “I need to wake Yuy and pass this information on. I think we should all discuss this and work out a strategy.”

 

“I'll fetch Trowa.”

 

“I'll meet you in the study.”

 

* * *

 

Heero was having a pleasant dream for a change, one that involved Duo, Keitaro and a place called Disneyland that Heero had heard Duo speak of when a voice calling his name dragged him from the warmth and back into the nightmare he was currently living. His mind snapped awake, eyes opening and focusing rapidly. “Chang?”

 

Only once he knew Heero was awake and knew who he was did Chang approach the Japanese man. “I have some information from Une.”

 

“Duo?”

 

Wufei shook his head. “No. I'm sorry. This information is the names of the committee for the Rebuilding Scheme.”

 

“Aa.” Heero sat up and rubbed the sleep from his eyes.

 

“She also said they'd had a call from the terrorists.”

 

“But the twenty-four hours isn't up yet.”

 

“They called it a courtesy call; they wanted to know what progress had been made.”

 

“What did Une tell them?”

 

“Just what she knows, that all the funding they have on paper equals what funding the colonies have received. They were not amused and still insist on L2 having extra.” Wufei sighed and dry washed his face. “She wishes us to continue in our investigations, to see if what Maxwell was onto has anything to back it up.”

 

“Where's the list of the names?”

 

“Here.” Wufei handed over the piece of paper.

 

Scanning over the neat handwriting, Heero read the names listed. “I'll fetch my laptop. You can continue to work with the main computer in following the tracks of the murdered infiltrator, I'll start a new hack on the files of these committee members.”

 

Nodding, Wufei returned to the main computer leaving Heero to fetch his laptop.

 

Trowa and Quatre both joined them in the study and were brought up to speed with the current events. Wufei continued with the main computer, scanning through the hacked database and following the tracks of the infiltrator. Trowa assisted wherever he could.

 

Quatre disappeared to make some calls to Sandrock Construction and other sub companies of WEI that were involved in the rebuilding scheme, requesting every item of paperwork connected to the scheme be sent to him to look over. Whilst he didn't expect to find any discrepancies, he wanted to be sure to cover everything he could possibly think of.

 

Heero fetched his laptop and set it up. Taking the list of names that had been provided by Relena to Une, he began to hack into the ESUN database, following the same procedure he'd used on the main computer. It didn't take long to get in now that he'd hacked it once already.

 

Communication in the room became practically nonexistent, just grunts, the odd curse and occasional sigh the only verbal emissions as the three men worked away.

 

* * *

 

The day passed slowly for Duo, Keitaro and the nurse. Without the candle or anything else he could use, Duo was prevented from making further progress with the transistor radio. He'd had another attempt at the mortar around the frame, managing to remove quite a bit of the crumbling stuff.

 

Unfortunately, he'd almost removed all of the rotten and decaying material, which left only the solid concrete, metal and wood to get through. He'd tried to force the window frame a few times but so far, hadn't had any luck in shifting any part of it so much as an inch.

 

Knowing he wasn't weak by any means, Duo had wished fervently he'd had some of Heero's unnatural strength right now.

 

Margaret had spent her time keeping Keitaro amused. The child was at the crawling stage and really wanted to explore and test out his new found freedom. He didn't appreciate being restricted and having his every attempt to sneak off thwarted by the nanny. Nurse Brown did her best to keep the child confined to crawling around the area she deemed 'safe' and out of all other parts of the basement, but he really was his fathers' son. Curiosity combined with a healthy intelligence saw the infant working things out and doing his damn best to evade his nanny.

 

Sighing again, Margaret stepped across quickly to stop the child from getting too far and into the pile of dirty rags, paint tins and who knew what else that sat stacked in a corner of the basement. Diverting the child's attention successfully, she sat back on the edge of the bed and sighed.

 

Her wrist didn't hurt quite so much with the stronger drugs, but she was worried about it. She hadn't voiced her concerns to Duo though, the young man had enough on his plate without her adding to the list. She'd taken a good, close look at her wrist earlier when Duo had re-strapped it for her - and she wasn't amused.

 

She could tell that the bones were starting the healing process, unfortunately, they were healing wrong. Oh, she knew she would need surgery to correct the break and set it properly and that didn't worry her, no, not at all. It was the numbness she was starting to get in her hand that was worrying her.

 

She had only noticed it in the past twelve hours. She knew she was no doctor, but she'd spent enough time nursing patients over the years to have some idea of what was happening; and all that knowledge was telling her that somewhere in her wrist a nerve or two was trapped between the broken bones. Given how those bones were healing wrong, there was every chance those nerves were being crushed. If that was the case and she didn't get medical attention soon then she had no doubts that the hand would definitely lose some, if not all feeling. Nerve tissue didn't regenerate properly.

 

Yes, there had been giant steps taken in medicine, but unfortunately, nerve regeneration hadn't been one of the success stories - only limited success had been achieved in that area.

 

Hearing footsteps outside the door, Duo left his fiddling with the window frame, grabbed Keitaro from where he was trying to get under the bed and sat with the infant in his lap as the door to their 'prison' opened and Duric appeared.

 

Glancing into the room, Duric took note of where their hostages sat and then pointed his gun in Duo's direction. “You, come with me,” he commanded.

 

“Where are we going?” Duo snarled as he stood and placed Keitaro on the bed next to the nanny.

 

“The boss has further business with you. Do as you're told and the kid and nanny will stay safe.”

 

With no other choice, Duo bent down and kissed his son. “I'll be back,” he promised both.

 

“Be careful,” Margaret warned.

 

Duo nodded, then turned to Duric and followed their captor from the room.

 

* * *

 

Rubbing at his tired eyes, Heero looked up as a touch to his elbow drew him from the screen. He smiled at Quatre and took the offered coffee from him.

 

“Any luck?” Quatre asked as he took a seat next to the Japanese man.

 

“Nothing so far,” replied Heero. “I've gone through nearly all of the members' files, but nothing suspicious. Their records and accounts match the inventories.”

 

“There has to be something, somewhere,” Quatre frowned. “I've checked all records with WEI and there's nothing amiss there.”

 

“I agree with you, Quatre. There has to be something, Duo doesn't get these hunches without good reason. All we have to do is find it.”

 

“Yuy?”

 

Heero glanced across to where Wufei and Trowa were hunched over the main computer keyboard. “Hai?”

 

“I think we may have found where our perpetrator was heading and what he was looking for...”

 

~ * ~

 

tbc...