Yu-Gi-Oh! Fan Fiction ❯ To Serve and Protect ❯ Chapter 25

[ X - Adult: No readers under 18. Contains Graphic Adult Themes/Extreme violence. ]

To Serve 25

Betaed by Skippyscatt.

~ * ~

Joey sat at his desk waiting for the chopper. He was ready for anything, armed to the teeth and
depending on Roland for backup. Seto was so jittery that Joey'd finally told him to take a walk to
burn off some of the adrenalin. *And he says I drink too much coffee.*

When the chopper finally got there, exactly on schedule, Seto nearly dragged Joey into the open
door. Roland followed hiding a grin behind his phone.

As they took off Seto heaved a sigh, exclaiming. "Finally. We'll get that prick. I just know it.
Joey, do you have your notes?"

Joey smiled at him gently. "Yes, I have my notes, in my laptop which Torrance has." Joey
glanced at Torrance. "Right?"

Torrance gave Joey an exasperated look. "No, I forgot one of the most important things. The only
thing you entrusted to me."

"Easy, Torrance. Seto's about to drive both of us nuts, I know. But he's been worried about this
for so long I don't really blame him." Joey turned to Roland. "Will you please keep him from
busting a gut? I'm gonna be busy when we get to the towers. Why don't you take him right to his
office and get him started on things?"

"Things, sir?"

Joey rolled his eyes. "Yeah, you know, security things."

"Oh, of course. Security things."

Seto snarled. "I haven't gotten senile just yet. Security things, indeed. I'll stay in my office so I'm
not in your way. But please don't insult my intelligence with busy work."

Joey swatted Torrance. "I told you it wouldn't work. Roland isn't that quick on the uptake and
Seto is harder to fool than I am. So . . . now they're both going to be pissed."

Roland just shrugged. "I'm not good at prevarication. Especially with Mr. Kaiba."

Seto just shook his head. Joey knew better than to try to pull the wool over his eyes. He'd been
seeing through this kind of thing since he was thirteen. "Numb nuts."

Joey snickered. "Not yet. Maybe tonight. Ok?"

Roland glanced at Torrance, who just sighed and covered his eyes with one hand. Roland turned
his head to look out the window, snickering to himself.

~ * ~

When they landed on top of Kaiba Towers Joey hopped out of the chopper and headed for the
door. Roland tugged gently on his arm and stopped him

"I should go first. Unless you don't trust me."

Joey nodded. "Sorry. You're right. Lead on. I'll have to get use to being protected instead of
protecting. But . . . " Joey just trailed off with a shrug.

Roland led the way in the door, checking quickly to see that building security was in place. They
were all where they were supposed to be, so they headed directly for Seto's office.

Seto looked around the office and realized that he really hated it. It had been designed and built
by Gozaburo. Seto had never thought much about it but now that he took a good look, he realized
that he didn't care for it at all. He tucked that thought away for future consideration and got down
to business.

"Ok. What do you want me to do?"

"Stay here and be ready to back me up if I need it. Also, there's a bunch of stuff you need to do
here. Get it done so everybody will quit pestering you about it."

Seto grimaced and settled behind the desk. Miss Ayami handed him a pile of papers with a bow
and scurried out the door before Seto could explode. Seto didn't bother, he just snarled and
started reading, but he gave Joey a 'later for you' look that made him grin.

"Ok, while you're being all executivy."

Seto blinked. "Is that even a word?"

"Well, whatever. I'm going to go find our friend, fry him in peanut oil and serve him up on a bed
of lettuce. See you."

Joey headed out of the office and down to the cubicle where the first email had come from. He
intended to check each and every computer that had sent mail.

He introduced himself to the man sitting at the desk in the cubicle.

"Hello, my name is Joey Wheeler. I'm an associate of Mr. Kaiba. I wonder if I could ask you a
few questions."

The man stood up and bowed. "Of course, Wheeler-sama. I'll be glad to answer any questions
you might have about anything. Please, feel free."

So Joey spent the next few minutes asking questions. The answers didn't make him happy.

No, he didn't give out his password

No, he didn't let anyone else use his station.

Yes, he was careful to turn off his computer if he was away from his desk even for break.

No, he didn't have guests in his cubicle.

Joey thanked him and went on to the next cubicle with the same results, and the next, and the
next. He spent the entire morning questioning salary men and women. When he checked his list,
he realized that he'd only covered half this floor and there were two more to go.

~ * ~

"Shit, Seto, I'm not getting anywhere like this. Every one of them says the same thing. No one
gets on their station, they don't know. Yadda, yadda, yadda. Dammit! He's getting on those
computers somehow." Joey draped his arm over Seto's shoulders. "Take me out and feed me.
Please. I'm about to starve. We'll go to the warehouse district and eat at Nanashi. Ok?"

Seto looked blank then remembered the hole in the wall place that Joey'd taken him to.

"No thanks." Seto shuddered. "I like my sea food fresh, but still flipping is a little too fresh.
We'll go to Benihana number two. I'll call ahead so we can get right in."

So that was where they went. Seto's call got them in without a wait.

Joey ordered a shrimp dish and leaned on his fist as Seto took his time considering several
choices. As he pondered Joey grumbled.

"Ok, Mr. Cranky. What's going on? You're all wound up and twitchy."

"Dammit Seto. I spent the morning interviewing people and I'm not getting anywhere. I need
some ideas here. I've sorted the mails by date, by location, by key words like kill, and bad, and . .
. shit! You name it. I've sorted by it. Including . . . " Joey trailed off as Seto gave him a blank
look. He shut up and let Seto think.

"I'll have the beef and snow peas." Seto handed the menu to the waiter and picked up his tea cup.
He sipped and thought. "There's . . . have you sorted by time? That might be important and are
there any large gaps in the dates that might be significant. And date and location together might
give something. You've done all the single sorts, but I noticed that you don't seem to do
combination sorts."

Joey sipped at his tea, holding his cup with one hand and taking notes with the other. "Ok. What
kind of sort beside the date and time. Location and . . . " Joey mumbled off, scribbling furiously.

Seto let him finish taking his notes, then took the notebook from him and tucked it away in his
coat pocket.

"Ok, enough with the notes. I want us to have a nice lunch, no business. You're the one who's
always telling me that I need to lighten up. So . . . lighten up. It'll all still be there when we're
done with lunch."

Joey couldn't help it, he started laughing and nearly couldn't stop. He was always telling Seto to
lighten up, enjoy his meals, etc.

"Ok, all right. I give. Where's my lunch? And I want steamed sweet buns for desert. With that
red sauce. Do you think Sakura could make it? Would the chief give us the recipe? Seto?" Joey
gave Seto an indignant glare. "Well, I'm glad you're amused."

Seto tried to take a sip of tea to calm himself, but he nearly choked on the tea and Joey had to
endure another round of stifled snickers.

Seto only quite snickering because the waiter brought their plates.

Joey watched in jealousy, yes jealousy, as the waiter flirted with Seto as he set the plate in front
of him. When he set Joey's plate down, Joey eased his jacket a little so that the insolent boy saw
his Berettas. The waiter was suddenly very interested in brushing every crumb from the pristine
table. Then he was gone, in a flurry of apologies and fluttering sleeves.

Seto watched the whole thing with a feeling of amazement. Joey's obvious display of jealousy
was astounding. He'd actually threatened the man, showing his sidearm in that fashion.

"Joey, what the hell is wrong with you? I've never seen you act like that."

"Yeah? Well, I'm tired of watching every server and clerk and Johnny-come-hither flirting with
you. You don't even seem to notice them but they keep at it. I'm gonna start cracking heads one
of these days. I swear."

Seto nearly fell out of his chair. He didn't pay any attention to the flirting, it was annoying but
trying to get them to stop usually only got them fired. Not something he wanted on his mind.

"Joey! You're jealous. I. . . really. It doesn't mean anything. If I wasn't rich, they wouldn't pay
any attention to me at all. Just forget it."

It was Joey's turn to gape. "Seto! You have absolutely no idea of your own . . . appearance.
You're one of the most gorgeous men in existence. People would be flirting with you just as
much if you were on the other side of the equation. You . . . I give up."

Joey glared at the waiter again as he fluttered around in the background, trying to decide if he
should offer another pot of tea or try to stay of the line of sight of the very dangerous looking
companion. He decided to take his life in his hands.

"Sir. Would you like more tea? I . . . excuse me?"

Seto covered his eyes with one hand and sighed heavily. "You just brought tea. . . when you
brought our plates. Could you . . . I'm sorry, I don't. . . yes I do. Stop hovering. I'm not interested
and you're beginning to annoy, not only me, but my lover as well. Go away!"

The waiter scurried off to lick his figurative wounds, Joey stuffed his napkin half way down his
throat to keep from howling, and Seto glared at both of them equally. "Really. If I didn't know
better, I'd say the man is demented. They all are."

Seto's disgruntled expression set Joey off again, which made Seto laugh too.

After they stopped laughing and finished eating, Seto insisted on walking back to the Towers. It
was a nice day and they'd been inside all morning. Joey grumbled, it was almost eight blocks.

But the walk turned into a window shopping casual saunter that had heads turning. Joey thought
it was because Seto was striking, his height and flashing eyes, his expensive, well cut clothing
and regal bearing made him a perfect subject for admiring looks. Seto thought it was because
Joey couldn't help but attract attention. His animated conversation, glowing blond locks and
athletic, muscular body, clad in an expensive and well cut suit made him stand out of any crowd.

Neither realized that alone they were attractive in the extreme but together they were so strikingly
beautiful that people literally caught their breath in admiration.

~ * ~

Joey wandered from window to window, pointing out things he liked and sneering at things he
didn't. Seto marked in his head the things Joey seemed most excited about. They wound up
looking in the window of a jewelry store.

"Oh, look. Wedding rings. That one is really nice." Seto noticed that Joey looked a little sad.

"What's up, lover. You look . . . sad?"

Joey hugged Seto, then shrugged. "I just kinda always dreamed of the day I got married. I know
guys aren't supposed to, but it was one of the things that kept me going. Dreaming of saying
vows and stuff. Never happen now." Joey shook off the mood and walked on. Seto got a good
look at the ring so he would remember it. He was making plans.

Joey made Seto stop at a vendor's cart. It was selling green tea ice and he was getting a little
warm from walking. He got two and gave one to Seto.

"Here. I need to slow down a little. I'm getting too hot." Joey looked around for a place to sit. He
saw a pocket park and headed for it. "This is nice. We can sit here for a while. Ok?"

Seto settled on a small bench with a sigh. It was nice to just be for a while. No one seemed to be
paying much attention to him, which was good for a change. He glanced around and noticed that
the little park was just a little shabby, slightly weedy, and in need of some fixing up.

"Shame about the park. It's nice, but it looks like the city will be taking it over and turning it into
a parking lot. Whoever endowed it must have passed, or gone broke . . . whatever."

Seto smiled. "Not going to happen. I'll make a call."

Seto made his call, spoke for a moment, then rang off and made another. He gave the address to
someone on the other end of the line and hung up.

Joey didn't bother to listen in, Seto would explain in a minute. He simply ate his ice and let Seto
take over.

"Well?"

"The sponsor died and his son isn't civic minded. I'll take over the care of the park. It's not hard,
all I have to do is tell grounds keeping to put this park on the list"

Joey mumbled 'list?' around his spoon.

"Yes. My list. I have several parks that I've endowed. I just added this one to the list. It'll be
weeded, swept, watered and cared for once a week. More often if it needs it. It's too nice to just
let go. The designer was an expert. Very good design. I might even copy it."

Seto settled back to finish his ice. Joey eyed him wondering how many several was. He finally
shrugged his shoulders and finished his treat.

Tossing the cup into the trash can Joey snagged Seto's cup before he could dispose of it himself.
"Come on. We need to get back. I've got an idea I need to check out."

"Good. Can I help?" Seto really wanted to help. He was tired of paperwork.

"Not yet. When I've gotten a grip on it, I'll let you know."

"Ok. I've almost caught up. But I'll tell you now, I don't intend to be stuck behind a desk any
more than I have to be. I like being able to 'goof off.' I'm going to take to riding every day. And
you still owe me shooting lessons."

Joey grinned happily. "Yeah. I haven't forgotten. And I haven't forgotten that you still owe me
some total obedience. I have some ideas I think you'll like." Joey leered at Seto, making grabby
motions with both hands.

"Pervert."

"Who, me? You betcha."

They both laughed and continued towards the Towers.

~ * ~

Joey returned to his office in the towers and sat down at his desk. His office was on one corner of
the floor and Seto's was in the middle, taking up most of the floor. Joey realized that his office
was one that had been for visiting executives. He didn't feel in the least guilty for taking it over.

After asking Miss Ayami for tea, Joey started sorting again. This time he sorted by date and time,
then by date and floor, he noticed that there were two two-week gaps and several day long gaps.
Also there were several days that more than one message had been sent. On those days the
messages were from different computers.

He then growled, kicked his desk, and went to question the people at the nearest stations.

He started with Miss Ayami, not because there'd ever been a message from her station but
because there hadn't. He found out that she always shut down if she was going to be away from
her desk, didn't share her passwords and didn't import or export much of anything.

Then he went to the first desk on his list. He was barely in sight of the cubicle when he noticed
that the computer was on screen saver. He looked around for the person and didn't see him/her.
He addressed the person in the next cubicle over.

"Excuse me but could you tell me where Mr. . . umm. . . Suzuki is?"

The girl looked disgruntled. "He's on break. Do you need something specific?"

"Need a file he has. Can you help me?"

"You don't need much help, just jiggle the mouse. He never put a password on." The girl
shrugged and sat back down.

Joey reached out and jiggled the mouse and the computer came on, completely open. He checked
and found out that he could access everything. Joey walked off muttering, and taking notes.
Heads were going to roll, starting with this guy.

At the next desk he caught the clerk getting ready to go on break. He swore as the man just
punched up his screen saver instead of turning off his station.

"Dammit! Don't you people ever do what you're supposed to? Turn that off!"

The man gave Joey a dirty look. "And who the hell do you think you are? It takes too long for it
to come back on. I waste hours a month just waiting for my computer to boot. It's good enough."

"Yeah, and is it on a password?" Joey didn't bother to identify himself other than to flash his
badge.

"Yes, it's on a password. You can't turn off the screen saver without it." The man reached out
and jiggled his mouse displaying the 'enter password' popup.

Joey growled and started to leave, but a passing secretary snorted and sniped. "Yes, but your
password is so obvious it's ridiculous."

Joey blinked, then typed in the man's name. The screen saver disappeared and the working page
came up. "Fuck!"

The secretary smirked at the clerk and sauntered off, flipping her hair. Joey just wrote down the
man's name and stormed off.

He checked several more stations and found that their occupants had set decent passwords and he
couldn't get into the computers. Then, at one final check, a mail room boy came by.

"Hey! Need in his computer?"

"Yeah. But it was off and it's password protected."

The kid sat down at the keyboard and looked around. He lifted the mouse pad and looked at the
bottom of it. Joey cringed. "Fuck! Let me sit down. I'm such an idiot. Dammit."

"Hey, don't beat yourself up. Most of the clerks here don't do this. Kaiba is a real asshole when it
comes to security. But there are a few, mostly older guys, that either don't turn off their
computers, or have easy passwords. Lots of people who . . . " The boy trailed off.

Joey was searching the desk, he flipped the mouse pad again, then he felt around the edges of the
monitor. He opened the pen drawer and swore, there it was, written in magic marker on the
bottom of the drawer. The password.

"Here, you're smart." Joey tore the list in half. "Take this. What the hell is your name?" Joey
glanced at his badge. "Takeshi Hotta-kun. Take this list and go to each station listed and look for
the password. Write down where you find it . . . if you don't, put 'no' on the list. Go."

"But sir. I have mail that has to be delivered. I'll get in trouble."

Joey stuck his badge in the boy's face. "Hotta-kun, you won't get in trouble. You'll be in more if
you don't do what I tell you to. Now get. I'll see that the mail gets delivered like it should."

Hotta took off and Joey waylaid the man who's cubical he was in and told him to deliver the
mail. He took one look at Joey's face and just started delivering. Joey started back at one of the
cubicles that he'd looked over.

He sat down at the desk and thought; first, he searched the monitor, the underside of the key
board and the mousepad. Not finding anything, he then looked at the pictures on the desk; he
looked at the backs, nothing. Then he noticed that each picture had the name of the person on it.
He tried each name until he got in.

After several more checks, all he could do was sit and swear. He found Hotta and got his list.
When he worried that he was in trouble, Joey told him to go to the Mail Room and have his
supervisor call Seto.

"Don't worry. You've been instrumental in helping me catch the Letter Man. We couldn't figure
out how he was accessing the terminals. Work stations are supposed to be secure. I'm going to
send out a memo to each supervisor with the station numbers that have been accessed. I'll bet
you a years income that they either don't turn off their stations properly or they have hidden their
passwords where they're easy to find. Dammit! Security won't work if they refuse to use it.
Something's got to be done. Go. . . ." Hotta started to walk off. "Hey. Thanks."

Hotta just waved and grinned.

Joey went to Seto's office and showed him his results. Seto nearly exploded. The memo that he
sent out was not only scathing in its reprimand but promised repercussions if conditions didn't
change immediately.

Joey paced more. "Ok, we know how our guy is getting into the system. Now all we have to do is
figure out who it is. This is going to be a mess. I haven't got a clue now. Anybody could have
gotten into most of those stations, even if they were turned off properly. If the password is
written somewhere on the desk or is something like a kids name, it isn't that hard to figure out.
So, all our guy has to do is turn on the station and think. Shit!"

"Well. There's a pattern, all we have to do is decipher it. Have you tried matching the pattern to
some outside source? Like . . . "

Joey just looked at Seto. "I'm purely out of ideas. I'm going to go down to the 3-D station I was
at the other day. That guy Oda has a brain. Maybe he can see something. You want me for
anything, that's where I'll be."

"Ok. Call Ayami with the number when you get there. Come here." Seto wrapped his arms
around Joey and kissed him thoroughly. Joey clung to him for a moment. He wanted this all over
in the worst way and he seemed to be getting farther from the perpetrator rather than closer. "It'll
be ok. You'll find him. You've never been a quitter. And you are a winner. You know you are."

Joey brightened. "Yeah. I'm a winner. I won you after all. Everything else is just gravy. Kiss.
Then I'm gone." So Seto kissed him again and Joey left.

Seto stood with the finger tips of one hand on his lips for a moment, staring at nothing. Then he
sat back at his desk and began planning. Joey was going to be so surprised, and happy, he hoped.

~ * ~

When Oda realized what Joey wanted, he smiled happily. Then informed Joey that he'd been
playing with the data just to see what he could do with the program that he'd been writing.

"It was a really good data base, it was all compiled and everything. I didn't think anyone would
mind since I was working with a copy. I hope it was ok?"

Joey just shrugged. "No one told you not to and since you were working with a copy, it couldn't
hurt the original. Show me what you've got. Maybe I can make some sense of it. This is driving
me crazy."

Oda led Joey to the holograph bay and booted up the system. While the projectors were warming
up, Joey and Oda discussed the sorts they wanted to look at.

"I'm interested in distribution. If we can match distribution to something solid, I might be able to
figure out something. Show me by date of receipt, in order, never mind what floor."

Oda smirked at Joey. "Wait until you see this. I can light them up in order . . . watch."

Oda started his program and ran the display. Each point lit up in date order, like a string of
Christmas lights. Joey blinked. They started in the basement and ran in an odd pattern through
first one floor, then another, then a third. Several stations were lit more than once, but not on the
same night.

"Nigh? Fuck that means something, but what. Who's working here at . . . son of a bitch."

Oda flinched slightly at Joey's fierce glare.

"Show me that again. Slower."

"Ssshhhhu . . ." Oda got the stammers

"Oda, relax." Joey grinned and ran his hand through his bangs. "I know I look like I'm gonna go
postal on ya. But I'm not. Just relax and run it slower. I see something."

"Ok. You really looked like you were going to pull out a big gun and blast me. Glad you don't
have a fire arm."

Joey blinked at Oda and shook his head. "I don't have a fire arm. Remember?"

Oda gulped. "I forgot for a second. You still have those Berettas?"

"Yup. And a few other things. This Letter Man is really something. I'm worried about him. If we
find him and you're around. Well, don't be." Oda gave him an odd look. "I mean. If we find him,
you make tracks in the opposite direction. No one will think less of you. I'll see to it. You're not
an officer or security. Think of yourself as a consulting expert. Now."

Joey went to his lap top which he'd set up on a side desk and typed in the number of the terminal
from which the first message had been sent. There had been four messages sent within a five
minute window. One to Seto and three to outside addresses. He saved the addresses for future
reference and returned to the holograph.

After eyeing the animation, which Oda had put on a loop, Joey rubbed his face and sat down to
watch it until something hit him.

After several more run throughs, he changed the parameters to show gaps in the time line. There
weren't very many only two two-week gaps and a few odd days, usually either a Friday or a
Monday.

Oda started. "Hey. The one day gaps are all on national holidays. Emperor's birthday, that sort of
thing. Now what does that mean."

Joey grumbled, "Hell if I know. I'm sure it means that whoever it is works here but that's . . .
well, that's something. At least we know it's not someone sneaking in on a regular basis. But . . .
look. Run each floor separately starting with the trail from . . . where is it from? What's that?"
Joey pointed to the hall the work station was in. It was isolated, alone in a broad hall.

Oda looked at the wire skeleton of the building. "It's a locker room I think. Let me . . . " Oda
typed at his terminal for a second. "Yeah it's a locker room. So that means . . . what?"

"Well . . . find out who's using that locker room and we've got something useful." Joey eyed the
floor plan he'd brought up on his computer and sighed. "Fuck. Locker room is right. Only seven
hundred people go through there on any given day. Two thirds of the cleaning crews use it. That
means almost anyone could go in and out that way. Dammit!" Joey slapped the desk in
frustration.

Oda shook his head. "Even the cleaning people have to have a badge to get into the building.
And need that same badge to open a locker. Everything is keyed to badges and key cards. There
are a few master key cards around, but their use is really strictly controlled. I lost my key card
and had to have my boss open my office. They actually log every use. Called me to find out if I
authorized him to open that door."

Joey frowned. "Well, that means that whoever it is is actually working for Kaiba Corp. They
couldn't get into the locker room otherwise. Right?"

"Yeah. It'd look really suspicious if they just walked in without swiping their card to clock in.
Who'd go to work without making sure they were properly logged onto the time clock? So . . .
what do we know now?"

Joey swung his chair back and forth for a moment. "We know it's someone who works here. On
the cleaning crew. And . . . what? Why? Why would they have a grudge against us? Someone
who has a friend who got fired? Some other offense, real or imagined. I'm getting something but
I'm not sure what. Run the next floor. Please."

So Oda ran the next floor and they watched the flashing dots waltz across the floor. Joey sighed,
they wandered from one end of the floor to the other. There was no discernable pattern except . . .

"Oda-kun, can you start with the first station and join each one with a line?" Oda did. "That's . . .
odd. Hhhhuuummm. . . . what am I looking at? Can you go to the next floor please."

They sat and watched the pretty lights dance around the second floor. But Joey was getting an
idea.

"Oda-kun? This is going to drive you nuts. But is there any way to trace . . . hell, I know there is.
Just . . trace every email that was sent from each of the stations for the . . . five minutes before
the stalker message. I'll trace the five minutes after. That should give us something. I'm not sure
exactly what, but it's a better clue than we've had yet. If we can get a traceable address, we might
really have something."

They both got busy and spent the next several hours tracing out going emails, with little or no
luck. Each station had its own log, which could be accessed using Joey's authorization. But the
search was endless, there were just too many stations and too many messages.

Joey looked up from his computer as Seto sauntered in. He was dressed in the dress slacks and
turtleneck shirt he'd been wearing earlier but he'd left his coat in his office.

"Can I help you? You need anything?"

Oda didn't do more than glance up. "If you're gofering I could use a cup of tea. Red, two sugars.
I'm falling asleep here. Thanks."

Seto raised an eyebrow in inquiry, then just shrugged. "You want?"

Joey stretched and yawned. "Yeah. Double double mocha latte, sugar."

"Kami! Wheeler-kun you'll ruin your stomach and your nerves."

Seto smirked at Joey. "I've been trying to tell him that forever. But will he listen to me?
Nnnnuuuueeeewww. Just wait until you see what happens when he drinks that."

Oda typed for a second, then turned to see Seto smirking at Joey. His eyes nearly bugged out of
his skull. "Oh, my . . . I . . . Mr. Kaiba. Sir. I'm sorry. I didn't realize it was . . . excuse me . . .
I'm . . . "

"Stammering. Take it easy. As you're helping Joey, I'll do more than cut you slack. You want red
tea with two sugars and that is what you'll have. I'll send out for it." Seto smiled gently at Oda
relieving his fears.

Joey eyed his computer. "I'm just now getting through with the first floor. And we've been at it
for . . . " Joey glanced at his watch and sighed. "Almost six hours and only cleared a little less
than a third."

Oda peeked at Joey's computer. "You've cleared a third of your list, I've only cleared a quarter
of mine. I'm having trouble accessing. We're using the same clearance and the system keeps
kicking me off. Your URL is keyed directly into the system I keep having to re-enter the
password. It's really getting time consuming."

Seto opened his phone and spoke to Ayami, telling her to send tea, coffee and snacks to the
holograph room. Then he sat down at Joey's computer and gave Oda his own password into the
main systems. Oda just gaped at him.

Seto gave him an exasperated look. "What? I own the company. I'll give you your own password
if I want to. Get back to work."

Joey shook his head. "Give the poor guy a break. We've been at this forever. I think we could
both do with some tea and snacks, maybe a walk around in the halls. It's almost 9:00 P.M.."

Seto looked astonished. "That late? I spent the last . . . ahem . . . never mind. Legal stuff."

Joey gave Seto an amused and affectionate look. Trust Seto to lose track of time so completely.

They walked up and down the hall for a few minutes. Joey stopped in the nearby lounge area to
do some tai chi. Oda followed his lead, and they did a short routine while Seto watched. Oda
stretched gently and grimaced as his stomach growled loudly.

"Sorry."

"Don't worry. The only reason my stomach isn't growling is it's too empty. Come on. I bet the
cart is here by now." Joey headed back for the holograph room and the anticipated food. Seto and
Oda followed grinning at each other.

When they got back to the room, they found that Torrance had come with the promised food. In
fact there was quite a lot of food. Torrance had called out for Chinese and there were the buns
that Joey liked, as well as beef and onions, shrimp and snow peas, sweet and sour chicken and
pork, and some things that Oda couldn't identify. The tea and coffee were in thermos bottles to
keep warm.

Torrance dished out portions of everything to all three hungry men and watched, in some
amusement, as Joey cleaned his plate twice and was finishing off his third bowl of rice before
Seto and Oda were done with their first.

Joey was sipping tea and thinking hard. Seto watched him as he nearly choked.

"I think I got it. Damn. I'm so stupid. It's just dead easy." Seto blinked and Oda made an
enquiring noise. Torrance beamed. "We keep finding the same two . . . three? Addresses. We'll
just go physically question whoever is at that address. It can't be that hard to find out the physical
address of an email account. I'll call in a favor or two from the department."

~ * ~

It turned out that it was a lot harder than it could be. The Right to Privacy rules of most providers
made it necessary to get a court order. That took until the next morning. Seto sent Oda home with
promises of bonuses and promotions. Then made an appointment with a judge and hauled Joey
up to the apartment at the top of the tower. Torrance followed to turn back their bed and seek his
own.

Joey and Seto shared a companionable shower, scrubbing each others backs and washing each
others hair. Seto combed out Joey's and braided it tightly, leaving it damp. It would dry over
night.

After crawling between the sheets, they snuggled down and fell asleep almost immediately.

~ * ~

Joey barely woke the next morning, only rolling over and grumbling when Seto tried to wake
him. Torrance entered the room just as Seto was getting ready to try again. He simply handed
Seto the cup of coffee and stood back to watch.

Seto waved the steam from the cup into Joey's face, careful to keep the cup far enough away that
if Joey shook the bed it wouldn't spill on him and burn him.

Joey did start violently then look around wild eyed. "Wha'? Who? Seto . . . god. . . coffee.
Gimme . . . gimme." Joey snatched at the cup but Seto held it out of his reach.

"Easy there cowboy. You'll get it when I'm sure you won't spill it all over yourself. You'll get
burnt. Up and at 'em." Seto watched as Joey scrambled out of the bed and made another snatch
for the coffee. This time he let him have it.

Joey bolted the coffee in two gulps. Torrance blinked at him, the stuff was scalding. Joey held
out his cup for more.

"I'm sorry. I didn't bring anymore. You'll have to come to the table if you want it." Torrance
turned and left the room to finish breakfast preparations.

Seto yawned, "You up or just faking it."

Joey eyed his empty cup with mild disgust. "I'm up for real. This coffee is kinda weak. And
where did you learn to talk like that?"

"From you." Seto grinned.

"Well, don't. You don't . . . want . . . to talk like me. I want to talk like you. I sound like dock
side trash. You sound like something out of a romance novel."

Seto took the cup from Joey and put it on the nearby table. "Joey, I like you just the way you are.
But if you want to talk better, I'll be glad to help you. I haven't said anything because I really
don't care. If you're embarrassed, we'll get you a coach. . . I . . . talk like a romance novel
because Gozaburo had it beaten into me. One slip and he'd gag me for the rest of the day. Now,
breakfast, then back to work."

Joey grabbed Seto and kissed him. It was all he could do. Gozaburo was already dead, so killing
him slowly wasn't possible.

Seto finally pushed him away gently. "Come on. I'm hungry and Torrance will have breakfast
ready by now."

The breakfast was American style with bacon, eggs, toast and coffee. Joey had a bowl of dry
cereal and juice as well.

After stuffing themselves shamelessly, they went back to Seto's office and split up. Joey to go
back to his investigations and Seto to get the court order.

Joey met Oda in Oda's office rather than his own. It was closer to the holograph room and, he
smirked, the snack machines. He dumped his armload of snacks on Oda's desk and plucked out a
packet of pocky. He stuffed an end into his mouth and booted up his computer.

He started tracing mail. It wasn't really legal yet, but he was sure Seto would get the court order.

His results matched Oda's, the same three emails turned up over and over again. He ran the
search the other way and searched for incoming mails from the same addresses. He didn't find
any. He wasn't sure what that meant.

Oda munched on some potato chips and thought. "Look . . . I'm not sure what it means, but . . . I
can't find any incoming mails from any of those addresses. Doesn't make sense."

Joey groaned. "Yes it does. Who ever it is is borrowing other computers. I can't believe we
wasted time on that."

"Not a waste. We eliminated several factors. So we're to the good. We're sure the people who
are getting the mail aren't cohorts. So, that's good."

Joey nodded. "Yeah ,you're right. But what do we know. I know what be don't know. But what
do we know." Joey swung his chair back and forth, swiveling it and making his knees pop.

Oda shivered. "Will you stop that, it's gross. Sounds like they're breaking. Over and over again.
You'll ruin them."

"Too late. They're pretty much messed up already. It's ok, though. They don't hurt or nothin'.
They just pop. I'll probably get arthritis later . . . Look . . . to change the subject. Can we go
ahead and try to find the physical addresses? I just want to know where they are. If I have to
arrange a raid, I want Intel." Joey started to work again.

He and Oda spent the next hour trying to hack into the servers, it didn't work. Only Seto had the
skill to do something like that. So they settled on arguing about the new game Joey was working
on and stuffing themselves with pocky and candy bars.

When Seto finally came down with the papers in his hand, they were half way through the pile of
snacks and fully engaged in an argument over magic cards and monsters.

Seto handed the papers to Joey, explaining that the provider had copies and had provided a
password that would allow them complete access to their records. Joey entered the password and
quickly found the addresses.

He looked them up on a map and compared the names. "Seto, look here. Two of them have the
same last name. Bet if I look up the maiden name of the wife at the last address, she's got . . .
something. Dammit. They're all related and related to the Letter Man. Now what?"

Seto bit his lip. "I got a really funny feeling about all of this. Something isn't adding up right.
Think about it. All the messages came after some accident or an incident that we can trace
directly to the yakuza. They started about six months before you came along. . . . something
triggered them. What happened to me six months before you . . . dammit."

Joey sighed, with Seto on the job they were going to start making head way or they weren't going
to find the man at all.

Seto went through all the files and bit at his lip. "Ok here's what we have. Joey, you already
know all of this so I don't know what you're waiting for but . . . our Letter Man sends messages
to all four addresses every day. Most of them are the same type of thing. Cautionary, 'you're a
bad boy' type stuff. Vaguely threatening. 'You'll be sorry.' 'You'll be punished.' But never a
direct threat like 'you'll die' or 'I'll shoot you.' He's missed every Saturday and Sunday. There's
a gap for every national holiday that we're not open for business, and two two-week gaps. I'd say
vacations. Did I miss anything?"

Joey shook his head. "Not a thing. But what does it add up to? Only that whoever our perp. is, he
works here. But . . . fuck me! Dammit, Seto shoot me now, I've lost my mind. I need to talk to
Torrance. Oda. Call each of those addresses and ask them if they have a relative that works here.
Give them my badge number. Seto, get ready to search for a name, then match their attendance
record to our calender. Go . . . Go."

Joey vanished out the door at a dead run. He managed to get to the pent house apartment in
record time. Torrance looked up from his newspaper and stiffened.

"Torrance. Tell me again about the cleaning crew. The lead woman. What was she like?"

Torrance folded his paper up and put it down as if it was the most important thing he would ever
do. He thought carefully and then started to speak.

"Well, she is older. Not really old, but near retirement. Very clean in her person and . . .
commanding? Not . . . just very certain that what she's doing is right. She was determined to
clean, as she put it, 'every inch of my boy's place.' She was very insistent. Made quite a nuisance
of herself. Why?"

"I think . . . I'm not saying anything until I'm sure. Wouldn't do to smear her reputation. Just . . .
if you see her give us a shout."

Torrance nodded. "She works the half shift . . . the one that starts at about three? And is over at
eleven."

Joey smacked himself in the forehead. "Son of a fucking duck. I give . . . I'm an idiot."

Joey thanked Torrance, who just nodded and went back to his paper.

Joey went back to the office and snarled at Seto. "You sure you love me?"

Seto blinked. "Huh? Yes, I'm very sure. Why?"

"Because I need to be locked up for criminal stupidity. All the clues were right here in my face
and I didn't see them because I had a preconception. I just knew who it had to be, all I had to do
was find the proof. Instead of taking the proofs I had and making someone fit them."

"Well? I take it our Letter Man is someone unexpected." Seto raised an eyebrow as Joey started
swearing again. Oda just looked for cover. He'd never seen anyone look as fierce as Joey.

Joey took a deep breath and asked Seto to find out what the name of the head of the cleaning
crew assigned to his apartment was. Then he turned to Oda.

"What is the name of the relative?"

"Oh, her name is Mrs. Fujiwara, she's been here forever. Most people know her. She mothers
everyone. But she . . . she couldn't be the Letter Man. She's a really nice old lady. Something's
wrong."

Joey sighed. "Just do what I ask, ok? We have to get this cleared up, one way or another."

Seto compared the days Mrs. Fujiwara had off to the gaps in the messages, they matched. And
she sent messages from the same terminals to her children at the same times. Everything matched
up. Much to Oda's dismay. Seto didn't know what to think and Joey was just pissed.

Joey rounded up the clues for them.

"Ok, first every message was after the fact. At first we thought it was him saying 'look at what I
did.' Then we proved that all the attacks were yakuza. When we found out that the messages
were coming from inside, I should have started looking for a crack pot. Someone who works here
would have an inside track. So now we know that it's this old woman. All we need to do is find
out how she knew how to get into the systems."

Oda bit at his lip. "I think I can answer that one. She's inquisitive as hell. Wants to know how
everything works. Someone must have told her about passwords. And I bet she found passwords
hidden around and just used them. There's always memos about hiding passwords. We're
supposed to remember them, not hid them 'in plain sight'." Oda looked down at his feet then
gave Seto a hopeful look.

Seto rolled his eyes, he was sure he wasn't going to like this, but he shrugged and told Oda to go
ahead.

"Could you please not make a big deal out of this until we know whether she meant to cause all
this trouble? Maybe she didn't mean to scare . . . I mean . . . well . . . " Oda trailed off at the
incredulous looks he was getting from both Joey and Seto.

Joey exploded. "Do you fucking mean to tell me that you think she . . . she . . . dammit! If she's
just some old busy body, I'm gonna. . . . Seto!"

So they called in security. Roland told Seto that the best thing to do was wait until she came in to
work and have her supervisor pull her in to his office and proceed from there.

~ * ~

When Mrs Fujiwara came in, she clocked in and was caught before she could join her crew. The
security man accompanied her to her supervisors office where Seto and Joey were waiting for
her.

She wasn't much to look at, just an elderly lady near retirement. She had iron grey hair, wrinkles
around her eyes and mouth and a slender, upright build. But the minute she opened her mouth
Joey winced.

"Well, just exactly what is it? I have a crew to supervise, you know quite well that if I'm not
right there they'll slack off and nothing will get done right. Please get to the point." She settled
into a chair as she was talking as if it was her office and not Mr. Sasuki's.

Her strident tones grated along everyone's nerves. Joey could see how she got things done people
would cooperate just to get her to go away.

Mr. Sasuki rubbed his forehead and explained that there was unauthorized use of company
facilities and they wanted to ask her some questions. She opened her mouth then closed it
carefully.

"Un authorized? I was under the . . ."

Joey interrupted at this point. "No! Do not give me that shit." She gave him a dirty look. "And
don't look at me like that. You know that, if you have to search the cubby for the password,
you're not supposed to be using it. Now. How did you learn how to use the e-mail, and how did
you figure out how to find the passwords. Start talking quick. And don't give me shit. I don't
need it. This is serious. Real, jail time, serious."

Mrs Fujiwara turned pale and started talking, all her earlier impatience gone.

She explained that her children worked completely different schedules than she did and none of
them wanted to change. So she started trying to find a way to keep in touch with them. One of
her grandchildren had explained to her about email and she had asked (nagged) a boy into
explaining how to connect. When she'd found out that Kaiba Corp. had everything she needed,
she'd found the hidden password all on her own. "If they don't keep them secure, they deserve to
have others use their stations."

Joey sighed and rubbed his face. "I don't know how to explain this to you other than to just blert
it out. You've heard about the stalker?" she nodded. "You're him. You're the Letter Man.
You've had Seto scared out of his wits for months. What were you thinking? What's the matter
with you?"

Mrs. Fujiwara blinked. "He's just so careless of himself. He needed to be reminded of his safety.
He should stay in his apartment where he's safe and I can make sure he doesn't get sick by
cleaning up for him properly . . . and you. You're nothing but trash. Dock side filth. Mr. Seto
could do so much better. He needs someone who's above reproach and a woman. How's he
going to have an heir with a nasty boy like you around? You should be ashamed of yourself." She
gave him an indignant look and huffed crossly.

"Well. One, I was undercover. Defending the security and peace of my nation. So . . . and I'm not
any nastier than you are. So don't go there . . ." Joey turned to Seto. "I'm leaving before I say or
do something that I'll regret. Turn her over to the police, she's obviously deranged." Joey
slammed the door on his way out.

Seto called Roland into the office and told him to turn her over to the police and see that she got
whatever help she needed. And to make sure that he got her pass badge and keys. Then he went
into the hall and caught Joey.

"Hey! Don't look like that. I don't care who or what the Letter Man was. He . . . she's out of our
hair now. We can go on with our lives without worrying about it anymore."

Joey turned into Seto's waiting arms and leaned into them. He put his head on Seto's chest and
sighed. "It's just such an . . . anticlimax I guess. All that worry over a little old lady. Dammit.
What a waste of time and resources. Shit."

Seto put his fingers to Joey's lips. "I'm not mad. It brought me you. I'd have gone through a lot
more for such a prize. A little aggravation, some fear, and I get you. Seems like a bargain to me."

Joey sighed and wrapped his arms tighter. "Well . . . I still feel like I let you down. I should have
put it all together sooner."

"If you're not kissing me in two seconds I'm going to be piss . . . mmmmm."

They spent some time standing in the hall holding each other, kissing. Then they went to their
apartment and collapsed. Tension too long held made the let down a total crash.

"Seto?"

"Yeah."

"Still love me?"

"More than anything."

Good, because I fell really stupid."

Seto turned his head. "Don't. I didn't figure it out either. And I'm a genius."

Joey grunted and rolled over to put his head on Seto's shoulder.

Seto just pulled the afghan over them both and gave himself up to sleep.


~ * ~

Green tea ice is like a snow cone only made with shaved frozen green tea.

Word to the wise. Police work isn't like it's portrayed on tv. It's a lot of reading, and re reading.
Piles of files and looking at lists of evidence, looking for patterns. And a lot of talking.
Questioning suspects and witnesses again and again until the witnesses want to shoot you and the
suspects start whining about persecution. It's hard and boring, long hours and little pay. Then an
epiphany and an arrest. If you're lucky.

I am so bad at thank you's. I appreciate everyone who has so kindly reviewed me. Thank you to
all of you. Next chapter is the epilogue. At the end I will try to thank each and every one of you.
Until then, Thank you all.