Gundam Wing Fan Fiction ❯ Lean On Me ❯ The Trap ( Chapter 21 )

Disclaimer: I don't own Gundam Wing.

Chapter Twenty-One

Riley could feel someone trying to shake her awake. She had to give them credit, they were very persistent, but there was no way she was going to wake up. She was too tired. Suddenly someone slapped her across the right cheek, sending her upright with a start. She almost shouted out in anger when WuFei covered her mouth from behind. It was then she remembered where they were: in the cargo hold of a ship. WuFei removed his hand from covering her mouth. "Who slapped me?" she hissed, looking purposefully at Heero, who was crouched a foot away, looking around the side of a crate. He looked alert, as if listening for something.

"Sorry, but you wouldn't wake up," Meiran said.

Riley looked at her in surprise. "You slapped me?" she asked dubiously.

"Shut up," Heero growled. "I'm trying to listen."

Riley glowered at him. "Why don't you shut up," she grumbled, rubbing her sore cheek. She looked around and noticed that everyone was dressed and ready to leave. She quickly reached over and grabbed her backpack. "I'll be right back," she whispered, crawling away, moving further into the maze of crates. She found a small circle of space that was a safe distance from the others, and started removing things from the backpack. She pulled out a holster, a pistol, her pouch of daggers, and a change of clothes. She quickly changed out of her winter clothing, consisting of leather pants and a long sleeved shirt, into a pair of jeans and a sleeveless white top. She pulled her lace-up boots back on, and tied the holster around her waist. She slipped the pistol into it, and then tied her dagger pouch around her right thigh; she removed a dagger from the pouch and tucked it into her right boot. It was still chilly in the cargo hold, so she pulled her brown bomber jacket back on. Stuffing her clothes into the backpack, she swung it over one shoulder and made her way back to the others.

"Good timing," Meiran said. "Heero said that the ship should be pulling into port in a few minutes, so be ready."

------

The jet coasted to a stop on a makeshift runway in the middle of nowhere with only a small building nearby. The passengers inside gathered their things and stepped out of the jet after it had completely stopped. The harsh arctic wind slapped them in the face as they made their way to the building built off to the side of the runway. Duo, in the lead, reached the door first and knocked rapidly. It opened almost immediately, and a small man dressed in Eskimo-style clothing ushered them all inside.

"Thanks, man," Duo said, rubbing his arms. "It's freezing out there."

The man smiled politely, and closed the door after everyone had gathered inside. The building was small, not much larger than a one-room shack, which was basically what it truly was. Duo and the others couldn't move freely in the cramped space, but none complained.

"We need to move quickly," Trowa said, looking at his watch.

Hilde smiled at the man and asked, using gestures, "You take us," and here she motioned to everyone standing in the room, "to snowmobiles?" She then acted as if she was riding a snowmobile.

The small man was obviously holding back a grin. "Yes, I can take you to the snowmobiles. They're parked just out back. I also packed you all some extra blankets so you won't be so cold on the ride out, and a few granola bars in case you get hungry."

Hilde pursed her lips and seemed to crawl into a shell as she realized the man knew perfect English and that she had just looked entirely ridiculous.

Duo noticed her embarrassment and stepped forward to shake the man's hand. "Thank you for everything. We'll bring the snowmobiles back to you safe and sound."

The man nodded. "You're most welcome." He showed them out the back entrance to the three snowmobiles. "I assume you know how to work these things?" he asked incredulously.

"Uh, that would be a no," Duo said, answering for everyone.

"It's pretty simple. Let me show you how." After a quick run-through of the controls and basic maneuvering techniques, the man wished them a safe journey and went back inside.

"We need to pair up," Quatre said, taking in the fact that only three snowmobiles were in sight.

"Seeing as there are five of us," Howard said, "and I am making the diversion, I should be the lone rider. You guys decide who goes with who from there."

Duo ran his fingers along the seat of one of the snowmobiles. "Okay, Trowa, why don't you and Quatre ride one, and Hilde and I can ride the other? That okay with everyone?"

"Whatever," Hilde agreed, shrugging her shoulders.

"Okay, let's get going then."

Everyone climbed onto their assigned snowmobile and started off with Duo and Hilde in front followed by Howard, and Trowa and Quatre brought up the rear.

------

Solo wandered around Rawthorne's quarters aimlessly, examining everything he came upon. The guard stood at the door, watching his every move. Solo stared back at him with a frown. "Do you ever smile?" he asked innocently.

The guard looked at him, surprised by the unexpected question. "Uh, if the time calls for it, yes, I do smile. Why do you ask?"

Solo shrugged. "I dunno. You haven't smiled at all, so I was wondering." He went back to looking around the room. He came across the bed table on the left side of the bed. A simple lamp and cheap alarm clock were on its top, and the small pullout drawer was open a crack. Something had prevented it from closing, and its upper corner was sticking out. He hesitated before pulling it open.

The guard noticed and started walking toward him. "Weren't you ever taught not to nose around into peoples things?" he asked. He reached over to close the drawer, but the boy had already pulled out the object that had prevented it from closing. It was a photograph of a girl leaning up against the outer wall of a building. She was looking at the camera, but her face held an expression of surprise, as if she had not been expecting anyone to take a picture. The girl looked very familiar, but Solo couldn't figure out why. She had elbow-length medium brown hair and bright eyes, and she wore a brown bomber jacket over her clothing.

The guard grabbed the picture and put it back into the drawer; he closed it with a hard push. "Sit over there in the corner where you can't do anything else," he instructed. "And don't do or say anything until Agent Rawthorne gets back, you hear me?"

With a sigh, Solo went and sat in the corner. He pulled his knees up to his chest and hugged them to him. For some reason, he could still remember every detail of the girl in the picture. Why did she look so familiar to him, and whom did she remind him of?

------

The snowmobiles drew close to the Gemini base, a black silhouette in the distance. The three snowmobiles slowed to a halt, lined up in a row. "Here's where we depart," Howard said, smiling at the other's surrounding him. "Good luck, guys. Remember, don't get caught."

"Same to you, Howard," Quatre said with a warm smile.

"Later man. I'll see you back at the jet." Duo gave his friend a chin-up gesture.

"Be careful," Hilde added.

Trowa reached out and shook Howard's hand.

Howard saluted and with a cheery smile, started moving forward again at a slower pace than before so the sound of the motor wouldn't draw so much attention yet. The other two snowmobiles started up and drove to the left, circling around to the back of Gemini. When they drew close, they slowed and crept forward at a snail's pace, the motor just above a low hum. It was time-consuming, but they needed to take their time to get everything done right.

They came upon the left corner of the base and halted. The motors were cut, and the riders dismounted. They grouped together. "Everyone got everything?" Duo asked. "Okay, good. Let's get a move on then. Time is of the essence."

They disappeared into the shadows and moved along the wall to the southern entrance. Duo was leading the way, and he stopped a foot from the entrance, motioning for the others to wait there. He went on cautiously and crouched down. He looked around the corner, avoiding the electric fence on the outside of the wall, and looked in through the mesh-wire gate. A guard was sitting inside the gatehouse, watching the security monitors; another was patrolling the southern entrance area with a rifle in hand; a third guard could be seen walking in their direction along the inside of the eastern wall. Duo backed away.

"There are three guards in the vicinity," he reported to the others, "from what I could see anyway. One is in the guardhouse, another walking around, and another is walking back and forth along the eastern wall. I'm guessing another guard is walking along the western wall as well. Our best bet is to gain the attention of the guy in the guardhouse and the one patrolling the southern area just after Howard sets off the bomb at the north entrance. If luck's with us, the guy in the guardhouse will open the gate to come out and investigate. Otherwise, we may have problem."

"It could work, depending on how curious the gatekeeper is," Quatre commented.

"It's all we have, though," Hilde said. "Let's go for it."

Duo looked to Trowa, who nodded in reply. "Okay then, now we just need to wait for Howard."

------

Howard ducked down near the north entrance and placed the bomb just out of view but close enough to do major damage. He backed away and set another one two feet away. Both were set to go off in two minutes. He smiled to himself and hurried away to his snowmobile. He jumped on and drove off at a slow pace, and then faster as he drew further away. He smiled in satisfaction when he heard the bombs go off behind him a little while later. He glanced back over his shoulder. Sure enough, smoke was billowing up from the north entrance of Gemini. Now, he thought, it's up to you guys.

------

Duo heard the bombs go off, and the four of them drew closer to the south entrance. Trowa looked around the corner this time. "The gatekeeper's heard it and gone to investigate, leaving a rookie behind. Now there's just that rookie and one guard nearby."

"Good, all the better for us," Duo said cheerfully. He then picked up two of the granola bars the man back at the runway had given them, and threw one at the gate. Sparks shot up as the bar made contact with the gate; Duo hadn't realized the gate was electrified as well, though it should have been obvious.

The rookie had seen and heard the sparks and, as the four had hoped, opened the gate via computer and came out to investigate. He came out with an automatic pistol raised, but he didn't have enough time to react before Trowa had lunged at him, knocking the pistol from his grasp. Hilde picked it up and ducked back into the shadows, just inside the base. She could see the other patrol guard making his way over. He was cautious, and when he saw what was going on, she watched as he reached back around for his walkie-talkie. She aimed and fired, shooting the guards hand. He howled and was about to cry out when Quatre came up behind him and knocked him out. Quatre caught the guard before he fell to the ground and patiently dragged him into the gatehouse.

Duo dragged the rookie in after Quatre, and Trowa walked over to her, massaging his right shoulder. "You're lucky that gun had a silencer," he said, motioning to the weapon she held. She winced. She hadn't even thought about that. Her instincts had taken over and logic had been shoved aside.

Duo and Quatre came out of the gatehouse and waved Trowa and Hilde over. "Are you okay, Trowa?" Quatre asked his friend.

Trowa nodded. "Yeah, I just hurt my shoulder a bit, nothing to worry about. I'll be okay."

"If you're sure you're fine, we need to hurry," Duo cut in. "It's five after three. We're running behind schedule."

------

Heero listened intently, hoping to hear what was going on outside of the cargo ship. It had landed five minutes ago, but there had been a lot of commotion outside of the ship up until that moment. It was ten after three; the cargo ship had had a little set back on the way, so now they were running behind.

"Do you hear anything?" Riley whispered.

A quick nod was her only answer. His brow furrowed as he strained to hear a conversation that had just started between the head of security and two patrol guards. A few minutes later, all was quiet. He crept back to the other three. "From what it sounds like, only two patrol guards have been left to watch over the ship. From how the head of security was talking, they might be rookies."

Riley frowned. "Two rookies?" she asked. She didn't like the sound of this. Who would leave just two patrol guards, rookies for that matter, to watch over expensive cargo? WuFei was thinking the same thing, but didn't comment.

"It should be safe to go then," Meiran said. "We just need to make sure we get to these two rookies before they can trigger an alarm."

"Unless they think they're manly enough to take us down by themselves," Riley commented sarcastically.

"I doubt it," WuFei said sardonically.

"If you guys are ready, we can get a move on."

The only way out was through the way they had come in. WuFei and Heero had brought supplies in case they had to jack the door open, but, coincidentally, someone had unlocked the cargo hold door after they had pulled into the hangar. Heero and Meiran lifted the door up just enough for everyone to crawl under. Everyone ducked down after they landed safely on the ground; Heero reached back up and pulled the door shut.

"Be careful," Heero whispered. "I don't like how this is going. Look out for a trap of any kind at all. WuFei and Meiran, you guys go around the left side, and Riley and I will take the right. Stop the guards before they get to the alarm."

As they soon found out, the guards weren't rookies, and they put up a good fight. One almost reached the alarm, but Meiran managed to drag him down a foot away from it. She had then soundly knocked him out and removed his pistol from its holster. She tossed it to WuFei, standing nearby, and he had put it on safety and tucked it into the waistband of his pants.

Heero had easily managed to bring down the second guard, but when a third guard came up behind him, Riley had to rush over to help. With a swift kick to the side, she had managed to get the third guard off Heero's back and onto the floor. The two ended up rolling across the floor, throwing punches every few seconds. In the end, Riley managed to slam the man's head up against the wall, and he slipped into unconsciousness. Bruised and tired, Riley had walked back over to Heero.

"I thought you said they were rookies, and that they were only two of them?" Riley asked accusingly.

He glared at her.

"He misunderstood, is all," Meiran said, coming to his defense even though she knew he could very easily defend himself if he wanted to. "Either way, we defeated them with not much of a problem."

Riley's eyebrows rose. "You guys may not have had a problem, but that guy over there," she said, jabbing her finger over her shoulder, "gave me one bruise too many and a headache."

WuFei glanced down as his watch. "We need to really get a move on. We only have fourteen minutes until 3:40."

"This is where we split up then," Meiran said, looking over at Riley. "You two be careful, okay?" She looked at Heero and then back to Riley. "I don't think I could stand either of you getting hurt."

"You too," Heero replied. He then said, "Let's get going."

------

Trowa did not like how things were turning out. They hadn't run into much trouble at all; there was a patrol guard here and there, but it mostly was smooth going. They had already set bombs throughout the base and were heading back out. Despite the slim amount of time they had had, they had managed to get the job done with only a few minor injuries. Quatre and Duo were up front, while Hilde and Trowa walked at the back.

Trowa had noticed Hilde's tension ever since they had first entered the base. Her brow was furrowed, and he could see the doubt in her eyes. Her hands tightly gripped the gun she held, and her eyes flicked back in forth, searching for any sign of an enemy.

"I honestly wish someone would jump out of the shadows and attack," she suddenly whispered to him. She shook her head. "This assignment is almost too easy. We've only run into about twelve guards and soldiers, and most of them were rookies. No one would be stupid enough to believe that rookies could protect this entire base against an attack. I'm telling ya, this situation has `trap' written all over it."

"I've been thinking the same thing," he said.

She looked up at him. "You too?" She sighed. "Well, there really isn't much we can do about it now, is there? The bombs have been set. There's no turning back."

"We found the exit door," Duo whispered back to them. "I'm going to make sure everything's clear."

Hilde watched him as he disappeared out the door. She sucked in a deep breath. "If he comes back in and says it's all clear, then I know this is a trap someway or another."

Duo returned four minutes later. He held the door open and waved them out. "It's all clear."

Trowa could see the uncertainty in Duo's face, as well. He was having the same thoughts as he and Hilde were.

"Are you positive?" Quatre asked as Trowa closed the door behind them. "I mean, why wouldn't they have guards back at the south entrance? They wouldn't be taking that long to check out the explosion would they?"

Duo frowned as they neared the south entrance; the two rookies from earlier weren't in the guardhouse, and the south gate was still open. He hesitated, looking around. I don't like this, he thought, I don't like this at all.

"We have eight minutes to get back to the snowmobiles and get out of here," Hilde said. "We're going to have to run the rest of the way, and then drive pretty quickly to escape the explosion."

If the bombs haven't been deactivated already, Duo thought grimly. "Okay, let's move it, and if anyone see's any sign of movement, let us know immediately."

But they got to their snowmobiles without a problem, and they were never followed as they drove away.

------

"Someone's coming," Heero whispered. He grabbed Riley's arm and pulled her into an empty storage room. He dropped her arm one they were inside; he looked through the door crack and watched as the soldier walked past the door.

"How did you know this was a storage closet?" Riley asked.

"I studied the entire layout of this base before we left," he replied. He pushed the door open and motioned for her to come out. "It's clear, let's go."

They stepped back out into the corridor, and Heero looked around the corner. He stepped around it and started walking cautiously down it. Riley followed him as she walked backwards, watching their backs. Heero stopped abruptly, causing Riley to stumble into him. Heero gained his balance quickly, and grabbed a hold of Riley's arms, preventing her from falling. "Watch where you're going next time, he muttered.

Riley glared at him through narrowed eyes. "Next time give me a bit of warning when you suddenly stop."

He held a finger up to his lips and held his hand up, signaling for her to stop and wait. He crept forward and looked around another corner. He looked back over his shoulder at her and with a jerk of the head, motioned for her to follow him again. Halfway down the next corridor, Heero opened a door and stepped inside. Frowning, Riley did the same and closed the door. They were now in a small room with a simple wooden desk with a chair on either side, and a rather large steel box was in the corner behind the desk.

"An interrogation room," Heero said, noticing the steel box. "That box holds enough equipment to make any captive give out information."

Riley sighed. "I know."

Suddenly, a siren went off, causing her to jump. Heero grabbed her arm and brought her down to a crouch. They crawled to the door and opened it enough for both of them to see out of it but not enough for it to be noticeable. "Duo and his team accomplished their mission," Riley said to herself aloud.

Heero didn't reply. He was watching the soldiers as they came from all directions. He frowned as he watched. The postures of the soldiers' were rigged and all of them walked at a brisk pace, but none were rushing; all of their faces were clear of any expression.

Riley's brow furrowed. "Why does this look as if it was planned?"

Heero didn't reply for a few minutes; his face was as blank as all of the soldiers'. When he spoke, his voice was even deeper than before and full of a silent anger: "They know we're here."

---*---

I am so sorry this chapter didn't come out as fast as I said it would, but I do have a good excuse, or at least I think do. When I was halfway through with the chapter some days ago, I lost the floppy disk I had saved it on. And so, I wasted numerous days desperately trying to find it. Finally, I found it an hour ago, and I have been working on it ever since just so I could get it posted.

Anyway, the next chapter is coming soon. Look out for it!