Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Family Ties ❯ Chapter 50 ( Chapter 50 )

“[Author ID1: at Mon Apr 13 21:39:00 2009 ]Family Ties”[Author ID1: at Mon Apr 13 21:39:00 2009 ]

[Author ID1: at Mon Apr 13 21:39:00 2009 ]

January 2007 ShenLong[Author ID1: at Mon Apr 13 21:39:00 2009 ]

[Author ID1: at Mon Apr 13 21:39:00 2009 ]

Chapter 50

 

Peterson and Tewson blended into the shadows as they made their way around the building towards the rear. There was a fair amount of shrubbery around and that aided their approach. Ducking low as they passed beneath a lit window, the pair paused and communicated through hand signals.

 

Peterson waited and tried to listen in whilst Tewson snuck silently closer and did his best to get a look inside. Not much could be made out at all, the building muffled the voices to a low drone. Tewson had a little more luck. Returning to his partner, he indicated that there were two people in the room. Peterson nodded and the pair continued their way around to the back door.

 

Out front, Young and Matthews were having similar luck. They'd passed under another lighted window and made out two people, one sitting in a chair watching television whilst the other appeared to be talking and then left the room.

 

Moving on silent feet, they made it to the front door where Matthews reached for the handle and turned it.

 

Locked.

 

Stepping aside, Young came forward and slipped a lock pick from his pocket, dealing swiftly with the lock and having it disabled within seconds. Matthews nodded once, then grasping the handle again, he mouthed 'one... two... three...' and thrust the door open, gun drawn.

 

Tewson hadn't had a problem with the back door, it had been conveniently left unlocked and he grinned to Peterson when the handle turned easily. Both men drew their guns and burst into the farmhouse.

 

All hell broke loose.

 

Young aimed for the lounge room where they'd seen the one person watching television. As he entered, the person was half way out of their seat, pulling their gun at the same time. “Drop it,” Young demanded.

 

Seeing the muzzle of the gun trained directly on him, Duric had no choice but to comply, it was either that or die and Duric was rather fond of living right now. Raising his empty hand up, he crouched and tossed the gun to the floor before standing up fully and surrendering.

 

“Smart move,” Young said and picked up the gun, keeping his own trained on Duric all the time.

 

*

 

With Young having split off into the lounge room, Matthews headed for the light he could see spilling from another room, which turned out to be the kitchen. He paused at the doorway, hearing the sounds of Young in the lounge and the other two further inside the house. Taking a quick look around the door jamb, he recoiled quickly as a bullet whizzed past his nose and embedded itself in the wall opposite.

 

Pulling his own gun ready, Matthews did his best to gauge where the person was. He dropped lower and inched forward, managing to get a quick look around the jamb before another bullet came at him and lodged in the wood frame of the door. Matthews began to sweat; that was a little too close!

 

It had paid off though. He now knew the person was just across to the left in the room and to get a clear shot, he would need to be on the opposite side of the door jamb. Mind made up, he shoved his gun around the jamb and fired off several shots as he threw himself across the doorway to the other side.

 

Checking the clip, he peered around the jamb from the other side and spotted his quarry hiding behind the kitchen table. With a feral grin, Matthews opened fire.

 

Murphy recoiled in shock as a bullet grazed his left hand and another found his lower leg. He cried out in pain and fell into a heap, clutching his bleeding calf and trying to remain conscious with the pain.

 

“Toss your gun out,” Matthews called.

 

Murphy kicked the gun out from where he'd dropped it when he'd been shot and whimpered with the movement.

 

Cautiously, Matthews entered, keeping his gun trained firmly on Murphy.

 

*

 

The crashing open of the door saw Nolen and Farrow jump, Farrow remaining frozen at the desk with the laptop whilst Nolen scrambled from his seat, reaching for his gun at the same time.

 

“Drop it!” yelled a voice from the doorway.

 

“No fucking way!” Nolen snarled and pulled the trigger sending several bullets winging towards the doorway.

 

Farrow almost wet himself and slid from his seat to hide behind the desk.

 

Peterson waited patiently for the man to stop shooting, pulling back a little from the door so as not to get hit himself. Tewson watched from his side of the door, crouched low, gun ready.

 

When Nolen paused for a second, Peterson aimed around the jamb and let fly with a volley of shots.

 

Nolen had managed to duck behind the desk but not before a bulled nicked his thigh. “Fuck!” he cursed as the sting made itself known.

 

“Who are these people?” Farrow asked from where he was cowering.

 

“No fucking idea!” snapped Nolen as he loaded another clip into the gun. “But you can bet I'm gonna find out,” he added as he launched himself upwards and started shooting again.

 

Tewson also chose that moment to start shooting, bullets leaving the gun at a steady rate.

 

Having loaded another clip into his own gun, Peterson took aim and fired.

 

Nolen didn't register as the bullet pierced his shoulder, a second tore through his neck, severing the carotid artery and a second later a third entered his skull just below the eye socket and exited a little messily from behind his right ear. He was dead before he even hit the ground.

 

Farrow screamed as the bloody and gory body landed across him and he hastily scrambled backwards, pushing the corpse of his boss from his legs. “I surrender!” he yelled.

 

“Toss out your gun,” came the request.

 

“I haven't got one,” Farrow whimpered and tried to divert his eyes from the body oozing blood and other bits Farrow didn't even want to try and name onto the floor.

 

“Stand up and put your hands on your head.”

 

Only too happy to do so, Farrow got to his feet and did as requested.

 

Peterson kept his gun trained on Farrow whilst Tewson stepped cautiously into the room and checked Nolen.

 

“He's dead.” Tewson picked up Nolen's gun and turned to face Peterson who was patting down Farrow.

 

“Damn. Sampson said he wanted them alive.”

 

“Shit happens,” came the cocky reply.

 

Peterson grunted and dipped into his pocket to pull out a roll of duct tape, which he proceeded to wrap firmly around Farrow's wrists and secure a portion over the man's mouth. “Better check on the other two and then search this place,” he said as he finished his task.

 

* * *

 

“Las Vegas, Nevada,” Heero repeated as his mind worked overtime.

 

“Didn't you say you had a trace on the call from the terrorists and you'd narrowed it down to Nevada and California?” Quatre asked Sky.

 

“Yeah, we did.”

 

“Skip tracing to California and reprogram to trace to Nevada,” Quatre suggested and then turned to Une. “If what I'm thinking is correct, the trace on the coded message has been locked in to a five hundred kilometer area. I'm betting if the computer can continue on the trace of the terrorist call then we will be able to narrow down that area. If what Heero has decoded and we've interpreted is correct, the terrorists and Duo have to be somewhere close to Las Vegas.”

 

Une turned to look at Sun and Sky.

 

“Already on it,” Sky said hastily as he saw his commander's mouth about to open.

 

Seeing the agents had everything under control, Une turned back to the other three. “Yuy, get yourself to supplies and get kitted out ready. As soon as we have a lock on this trace, you're going in.”

 

“Hai.”

 

“Commander Une?” Trowa began only to be cut off.

 

“Barton, Winner. As temporary agents I'll ask you to accompany Yuy to the supplies section and also get kitted out. I'd send Chang, but he's already on another investigation.”

 

“Thank you,” Quatre said. He'd known exactly what Trowa was going to say as he was thinking the same thing. No way were they going to let Heero go alone on this, and with Chang already occupied with something else, that only left himself and Trowa who were capable of watching Yuy's back and assisting in such a dangerous mission.

 

“Where is Chang?” Trowa asked.

 

Heero looked to Une who motioned for the three to follow her out of the room. Once they were in the adjoining room and unlikely to be heard by Sky or Sun, Une filled the other two in.

 

“The L3 ambassador is dead?” Quatre questioned, clearly not believing Une.

 

“Yes. I spoke with the chief of security out at the residence and I've sent Chang and a team to compile a preliminary investigation. Once we know if it's along the same lines as the L1 ambassador's assassination, then Preventer will take over the investigation completely.”

 

“Oh, Allah,” Quatre murmured and lowered his head.

 

“We can worry about that later, right now we need to go get kitted out and bring my son and husband home,” Heero stated as he looked from one to the other, his mouth set in a determined line.

 

“Of course. Lead on, Heero.”

 

Heero left, taking Trowa and Quatre with him, Une returned to the communications room to see what progress the agents had made regarding a lock on the trace.

 

* * *

 

“Agent Fire from Preventer,” Chang said and showed his badge to the security guard at the gate. He couldn't help but think that with all the security in place now, the checking and double checking was a bit of a moot point considering the man it was supposed to protect was already dead.

 

“Drive through, Agent Fire. Chief Willoughby is waiting for you at the front entrance.”

 

“Thank you.” Chang slipped the car back into gear, noting the other Preventer vehicle behind him was following, their IDs having also been checked. He pulled to a stop out front and exited the car, the remainder of the team following suit. An official looking man stepped out of the front door and walked towards him.

 

“Agent Fire?”

 

“Yes?”

 

“I'm Willoughby, security chief,” the man stated as he shook Wufei's hand.

 

“Nice to meet you, Willoughby. Can you please show me and my team to the crime scene?”

 

“Certainly, sir. Please, follow me.”

 

Wufei and his team walked through the residence, eyes scanning around and missing nothing.

 

Willoughby stopped at the entrance to the study. “The body is in here,” he said quietly.

 

“Thank you. I take it nothing has been touched?”

 

“As far as I know everything is as the butler found it. My men haven't touched anything other than to check the ambassador for a pulse - which they obviously didn't find.”

 

“Where is the butler now?” Wufei asked as he signaled for his team to enter the study and begin their investigation.

 

“He's in the kitchen with a couple of my guards. He's pretty shook up.”

 

“I can imagine. Okay, we'll take it from here, Willoughby. If you could keep the butler and all your staff that were on duty here, I'd appreciate it. I'll send one of my team to the kitchen shortly to take statements.”

 

“No problem. If you need anything at all, please let me know. I'll be in the kitchen with the rest of the staff.”

 

“Thank you, Willoughby,” Wufei replied and then turned to enter the study and supervise his team.

 

*

 

“Agent Fire?”

 

Wufei looked up from where he was examining the window frame for any sign of forced entry. “Yes?”

 

“I think you should take a look at this.”

 

Chang left the window and walked to the desk where Agent Cloud had been examining the desk and its contents. “What is it?”

 

“Well, I was checking for anything that may have been a motive for the murder.”

 

“Agent, we already know that the terrorists were assassinating an ambassador to get their message across.”

 

“I know that, sir. But, I'm checking all possibilities in case this wasn't a strike by those terrorists. As yet we've not had any conformation from them accepting responsibility for the murder.”

 

“True.” Wufei had to give the agent his due, he was certainly on the ball in looking for anything at all that might provide a clue and seeing as they had yet to have the terrorist claim responsibility, then anything and everything was vital. He made a note of the agent's name - he would be commending the man's intelligence to Une and suggesting a possible promotion.

 

“I was checking the computer to see what the ambassador was working on when I found this.” Agent Cloud toggled the mouse and brought up the computer screen for Wufei to see.

 

“Well, shit!”

 

* * *

 

Agent Star yawned and rubbed his eyes. He'd been at the scene for a couple of hours now and he was tired. He'd been questioned by the Preventer investigation team and felt like he'd been well and truly grilled. He'd answered all their questions as honestly as he could, despite knowing he would be getting a reprimand for letting Jefferies get away from him.

 

The team were still investigating, being very thorough in all they were doing, even having had portable lights set up to illuminate the area. It looked like it was broad daylight, the lights were so powerful. The road had been scrutinized completely and sharp eyes had picked up on the spot where the tire had burst. Closer examination had shown minute traces of explosive around what had seemed to be an innocent looking pot hole. That had sent all the team into a flurry of activity.

 

Photographs had been taken of the car, body, road surface and surrounding area. Measurements were currently being taken and calculations made as to the speed of the vehicle at the time of the tire burst. Samples were taken from the pot hole and bagged ready to be analyzed back at the labs for explosive type, detonation and such.

 

Whilst most of the team were engaged in the scientific side of things, two agents were scouring the surrounding area for any clues. So far they'd turned up nothing of any use. Currently they were searching around the remains of the vehicle and moving forward to comb around the bridge itself.

 

The medical team had moved in once Preventer had finished with their cataloging of evidence surrounding the vehicle and victim and had removed Jefferies' body - albeit with some difficulty. The body was now in the ambulance where it would be transported to the Preventer morgue for a full autopsy.

 

“I'll take the bridge, you go underneath and down the sides,” Agent Sleet said.

 

“Thanks. You just don't want to get your uniform dirty,” replied Agent Sand as he turned his flashlight on.

 

“Too right,” came the chuckle.

 

Muttering under his breath, Sand began to work his way down the side of the bridge, carefully checking all around for any clue at all. His eyes caught something and he frowned as he moved for a closer look. A few twigs on a couple of bushes had been snapped, and they were reasonably fresh breaks. Feeling his pulse quicken a touch, Sand began to scour the dirt as he walked and was rewarded with a faint shoe impression in the earth. It was also fresh and he dropped a marker to the spot so he wouldn't lose it. Noting the direction of the print, he continued forward in the hope of discovering more clues.

 

On the top side of the bridge, Sleet wasn't having any luck at all. There was absolutely nothing in the way of clues to be found. A call from the other agent had him hanging over the side of the bridge.

 

As he proceeded further under the bridge, Sand scanned around, pausing every couple of steps to thoroughly check the immediate area with his flashlight as best he could. He'd gotten about a third of the way under when something caught his eye and he stopped. Looking up, he could see something attached to one of the bridge supports, something that shouldn't be there. He called out for Sleet.

 

“Find something?” Sleet asked from where he hung over the bridge side.

 

“I think so,” came the reply. “It's a bit hard to tell. I need you down here but be careful as I've left a couple of markers in the undergrowth for clues I've discovered.”

 

“Okay.” Sleet was quick to make his way to his partner's side. “What is it?”

 

“Up there,” Sand pointed.

 

“Ah.” Sleet shone his flashlight in the same direction as Sand's. “Hang on a sec and I'll see if I can climb up the support to see what it is.”

 

“I thought you didn't want to get your uniform dirty,” Sand said in a sarcastic tone.

 

Deciding to ignore the comment, Sleet clipped his flashlight to his belt and proceeded to climb up the support. Reaching the target, he shone the powerful beam and stopped dead in his tracks, swallowing hard. “Fuck.”

 

* * *

 

Matthews gave a cursory look over the three men they'd overpowered. Duric was glowering, Murphy wincing as Tewson finished applying first aid to his injuries and Farrow looked completely lost and scared. He grunted to himself and turned to face Peterson. “Take Young with you and check the rest of the house.”

 

Peterson nodded and motioning for Young to join him, they began their search. They didn't worry about looking in the rooms they'd found the four men in, those rooms had already been given the once over. They checked the bathroom and then moved to the bedrooms. They found nothing other than the personal possessions of the men they'd just captured.

 

Young took a quick look around the laundry and was about to pronounce it clear too when he paused and looked again. In the shadows on the far wall he could make out a door. Walking over to it, Young turned the handle only to find it locked.

 

“You found something?” Peterson asked as he moved into the room.

 

“Just a locked door that leads to the basement,” Young replied.

 

“There's probably nothing down there but junk,” Peterson stated. “Leave it.”

 

“But Matthews said to check every room,” Young protested as he reached for his lock pick.

 

Sighing, Peterson rolled his eyes. “Fine, but when you come up against a whole heap of cobwebs and spiders, don't come screaming to me like a girl to save you.”

 

“I'll just stay at the top of the stairs and shine the flashlight around,” Young replied, giving a shudder at the thought of spiders.

 

“Just hurry it up, we need to get out of here,” Peterson said as he glanced at his watch.

 

“Yeah, yeah. Don't get your knickers in a twist. Ah, got you.” Young slipped the lock pick back into his pocket and turned the handle. This time the door opened.

 

*

 

Duo crouched in his corner and listened to the sounds of gunfire overhead. He had no idea what was going on, but he could hope that it was Heero and Preventer coming to rescue them from this nightmare.

 

The gunfire ceased and all was quiet overhead for a short while. Duo was beginning to wonder if he should leave his hiding place and make some sort of noise. Then again, if it was Heero and Preventer he knew they would find him, they were always very thorough in their searches.

 

The sound of someone testing the door handle caused Duo to freeze and press further back into the wall. His heart was hammering in his chest as he forced his eyes to focus in the dark.

 

When the door didn't open, Duo trained his hearing and picked up on the sound of something jiggling the lock. The click as the lock gave was like a thunderclap in the silent basement.

 

The door opened and a flashlight was shone around, Duo breathed as shallowly as he could. The hairs on the back of his neck were standing up again. This wasn't Heero, nor was it Preventer; if it had been, they would have spoken by now, called out for anyone there to come out.

 

The silence was oppressive, then it was shattered as a foreign voice spoke.

 

“See anything?”

 

“Nah, just some junk, cans, old furniture...”

 

“See, I told you there wouldn't be anything.”

 

“Hang on a sec.” Young brought the beam back across the room and shone it on the small table.

 

Duo groaned inwardly. There was the tray and the dishes still there from their supper.

 

“What is it?”

 

“It looks like someone is living down here; or being held,” Young mused, recalling the locked door. He ventured a couple of steps into the basement and began a more thorough perusal of the room.

 

Duo did his best to become one with the wall.

 

“There's nothing down there, Young.”

 

Young cleared his throat and shone the flashlight directly at Duo.

 

“I beg to differ.”

 

~ * ~

 

tbc...