Ficcage!
Thank you to those who left a comment on my last chapter posting of Family Ties. RL has been a little hectic here lately and i apologise for not replying to you individually. Thanks for reading and commenting though, much appreciated.
Now, finally, here's the next instalment.
Unbetaed so please forgive any errors...
“Family Ties”
January 2007 ShenLong
Chapter 57
It had been a long night for Heero and the others, and not too productive either. Heero and Wufei had spent hours trying to trace the place of delivery for the armaments without success. It seemed that once they had been paid for, they'd been collected by a cargo company, a company that did not show up in any records anywhere. The armaments it would seem, had simply disappeared into thin air.
Trowa and Quatre had more luck, managing to get into the personnel files of the ESUN and securing the address' and contact details of both senators. The information was duly noted and plans made to inform Une on the 'morrow with the intent of paying the senators a visit.
With nothing more able to be accomplished that night, the four retired to bed.
Keitaro was sleeping soundly in his cot, the child appearing none the worse for his adventures. Heero stood watching the steady rise and fall of the infant's chest, lost in his thoughts. He debated calling HQ to see how Nurse Brown's operation had gone and glanced at the clock. It was late, but Heero was concerned for the nanny and decided to call anyway.
Walking back into his and Duo's bedroom, he picked up the 'phone from the bedside table and punched in the number for HQ. His call connected, the night operator transferring him through to the medical wing and the nurses station. He explained who he was and the reason for his call, the nurse on duty informing him she would try to page Doctor Po and have her talk to him. He was placed on hold for a few minutes before Sally's voice came down the line.
“Heero, what can I do for you?”
“I'm sorry to call so late, but I wanted to know how Nurse Brown is,” Heero said.
“Ah. Margaret is sleeping at the moment but I can tell you that the operation went well. I managed to set the wrist correctly and release a couple of trapped nerves. At this stage I don't know how much function Margaret will retain in the wrist and hand, I'll have to wait until she's fully awake and we can run some tests. I do expect there to be some loss of movement or feeling or both, but exactly what and how much I can't speculate at this point.”
“I see.” Heero went silent for a moment. “Sally? When she wakes up, would you mind letting her know I called and that I'll drop in tomorrow to see her, please?”
“Of course, Heero.” Sally couldn't help but smile to herself. “I know she'd be happy to see you and also pleased you've called.”
“Thank you.”
“You're welcome. Anything else I can help you with?”
“No. I'll leave you to your work. Good night, Sally.”
“Night, Heero.”
Heero hung up the 'phone feeling a little better in knowing the nanny was resting comfortably. Climbing into bed, he made a mental note to pick up a large bunch of flowers tomorrow for her.
* * *
Sally hung up the ‘phone, a small smile playing across her face. It would appear that Margaret had ingrained herself into Heero and Duo’s lives a lot more than they realized. Not that it was a bad thing, in fact Margaret was probably one of the best things that had happened to the pair. The woman had become something of a mother figure to the pair - something they really needed, even if they wouldn’t admit to it. Knowing what she did of the pairs background and their lack of parents whilst growing up, the nurse could only be a positive influence in their lives.
With the smile still on her face, Sally went through to check on her patient before attending to the other numerous tasks that awaited her. Walking into the private room, she noted the nurse still sleeping peacefully, the plaster encased wrist resting on a pillow. Picking up the chart from the holder at the end of the bed, Sally checked the notes and observations, pleased to see that the nurse’s temperature, blood pressure, heart and breathing rates were all normal.
Replacing the chart, she left the nurse to sleep and headed for the morgue and autopsy room; there was still the matter of a couple of autopsies she had to perform before she could go home that evening.
* * *
Duo noted the slight change in the vibration of the shuttle, his ears picking up on the engine sounds which had also changed. He looked outside the window, trying to see where they currently were. His earlier observations had led him to believe they were heading for L2 and his curiosity was piqued.
Straining his eyes through the black void he could start to make out the distinctive shape of a colony ahead. The shuttle drew closer and with each passing second, Duo was able to make out more and more of the colony lazily spinning in space.
It was L2.
A shudder ran through Duo, his mind still looking desperately for any clue as to what was going on. Unfortunately, there was nothing.
The lights all came on in the shuttle, people that had been sleeping now being awakened and harnesses secured. Tewson checked on the ‘criminals’, making sure they were all strapped in, behind him followed Chief Inspector Carrol.
“I do not need to remind you three that there will be guns trained on you at all times. Make one wrong move and I will not hesitate to shoot you. You are felons, I suggest you remember that.” The chief inspector turned and went back to his seat, strapping himself in as the shuttle prepared to dock.
Minutes later, the shuttle had docked and the pilot was powering down. The group began to release themselves from their harnesses and collect together all they had brought with them. Tewson and Young assisted the three criminals out of their harnesses and to a standing position.
The Chief Inspector took the lead, Wainright and Richards just behind him. Then followed Sampson, Zaheer, White and the three in chains. Surrounding the three and behind them came Young, Matthews, Peterson and Tewson.
With everyone in place, the group left the shuttle and entered the shuttle port.
They came into the area to the side of the main arrivals section where they were met by four L2 officials. Carrol produced the paperwork, the officials checking the details and asking a few questions. Carrol replied and the officials seemed happy enough with whatever it was he’d said. The documents were stamped and the group allowed to pass through, the three criminals on the receiving end of some pretty dirty looks.
Exiting through a door to the side of the port they were met by another man who led them to a pair of nondescript vans. The three prisoners and their guards were escorted to one van, the chief inspector and the others got into the other van.
Moments later they were off and driving through the streets of L2.
* * *
Sally returned to the Autopsy room and noted the change of orderly. She nodded in greeting as she stepped inside. “You been briefed?” she asked.
“Yes, Doctor Po. I have the ambassador's body ready for you,” replied the orderly as he turned to the 'fridge and pulled out the gurney with the ambassador's body on it. Within a minute the body had been transferred to the autopsy table.
“Thank you,” said Sally and picked up the clipboard with the paperwork on it. She checked over the brief details there, checking the tag number against the one on the toe of the ambassador and then handed the clipboard to the orderly. Grabbing a pair of latex gloves, she wheeled the instrument tray across and prepared to begin.
The autopsy didn't take long, the cause of death was evident, a cut to the throat that traveled almost from ear to ear. Sally worked through the procedure though, noting down anything and everything she found.
The throat wound was of particular interest, Sally covering everything she could on the wound. One could learn a lot about an assassin simply by studying the wounds on the victim. She noted the angle the knife would have been held at, how much pressure would have been needed to inflict the wound; all these small factors would add up to tell them things such as if the assassin was left or right handed, male or female, short or tall.
The victim might be dead, but the body could still provide a lot of answers.
When Sally had finished she had no choice but to come to the conclusion that whoever had murdered the L3 ambassador was the same person that had murdered the L1 ambassador.
Sally was well aware of the evidence mounting up and pointing to Duo. All she could hope for was that when this was all over, Duo wouldn't be charged for murder.
Taking the clipboard back from the orderly, she scanned down the notes, made a few more and then signed the bottom of it. “Right, he can go back now and we'll do the last one.”
“Yes, doc.” The orderly placed a clean sheet over the body and returned it to the morgue.
Whilst the orderly was fetching the last corpse, Sally changed her gloves and mask. A fresh set of instruments were located and the used ones put to one side to be sterilized later.
“Who is this one?” Sally asked as the orderly returned with the body and placed it on the autopsy table.
“Male, Caucasian, approximately forty-five to fifty years old. No other identity confirmed at this stage. Forensics are working on that, currently running fingerprints and dna through the database.”
Sally removed the sheet and gazed at the person. “Another lovely mess,” she muttered as she noted the bullet entry and missing rear skull. “Okay, best we get started then.”
* * *
The vans drove for a while through the streets of L2. The colony was still in its night cycle, although Duo guessed it must be somewhere in the early morning hours. He took to staring out the window of the van, eyes scanning over the landscape as the van drove on. From what Duo could make out they were heading through the more 'finer' areas of L2 and into the slums. The landscape changing from nice homes and business' to derelict warehouses and houses that were missing windows or doors. The towering blocks of flats built by the colony government that were supposed to house many of the poverty stricken lay mostly in ruins; here and there a street rat could be seen.
He shuddered as memories of his childhood slammed into his consciousness, times spent on the streets, foraging for food, running from the authorities and predators alike.
Seemed little had changed, despite the aid.
He could well understand Nolen and his gang doing what they had, their intentions and hearts had been n the right place; it was the methods they used that were wrong. He guessed some good was going to come out of all this though. If not for Nolen's gang then it was highly possible this second group would have continued on undetected until it was too late to do anything about them.
That's presuming he could find out exactly what it was this second group were up to, who their mastermind was and if he could stop whatever it was they were up to from happening.
There were a lot of questions in there, many variables, whats, whys and wherefores. Duo sighed and hoped he would be able to do something.
The vans continued through the slums, winding through back streets and pressing deeper into the ghetto areas. These were areas not even the street rats would venture into unless they were desperate. The drug lords, murderers, thieves and general low life lived and ruled this section.
The vans came to a stop outside a derelict building. It looked like it had once been a local store, but now there was nothing left of the windows, doors hung off their hinges, anything of value or use having been stripped from the building ages go. All that remained was an empty, broken shell.
The doors opened, Duo and his fellow captives being ushered out and into the building, eyes wide and scanning around.
“What a filthy place,” muttered Richards, looking down his nose at the building.
“Do not judge a book by its cover,” Sampson snipped and moved deeper into the building.
With a grunt, Richards followed behind Sampson and the others, careful of where he walked. He didn't want to step in anything if he could help it.
Watching the senator gingerly picking his way through the rubble, Duo couldn't help a small snicker.
The group made their way through to the back of the building and down a flight of stairs to what appeared to have been a basement. Duo wrinkled his nose in disgust, not only at the dank smell, but he' also had quite enough of basements lately - thank you very much!
Once they were all inside the basement, Zaheer and Sampson moved to one of the corners, fiddling around and moving things. Upon their return to the group, Duo could see an opening that hadn't been there before.
“Move,” came the command from Young, accompanied by a shove to the lower back.
Duo stumbled slightly, his ankle sending sharp pains of protest up his leg but he refused to acknowledge it. Gritting his teeth, he willed the pain away and followed the others through the opening and down a flight of steps and into the bowels of the colony.
* * *
Une resisted the urge to slam her fist into the small alarm, instead she knocked the ringing thing to the floor where it gave one last, defiant chime and fell silent. Blinking bleary eyes, all Une wanted to do was roll over, close her eyes and sleep forever - well another few hours at least.
Unfortunately, she couldn't and reluctantly she tossed back the bed covers, dragged her tired body from the mattress and made her way to the bathroom.
Several minutes later she reappeared feeling a little better. The shower had made her feel a little more human at least; now all she needed was the coffee to complete the job. Several minutes later, the scalding liquid was finding its way down her throat, accompanied by a couple of slices of toast.
Breakfast taken care of, Une grabbed her keys and left her apartment, hoping her agents would have something to report today.
“Good morning, commander,” her secretary greeted as Une strode into her office.
“Morning, Fiona. I don't know whether it's going to be a good one though,” Une replied. “Any word from any of the agents?”
“Nothing as yet, commander.”
“Okay. Let me know immediately if anything comes through.”
“Yes, commander,” replied Fiona and handed the commander the stack of mail sitting on her desk.
Une took the mail and entered her office, closing the door behind her. She hung her jacket up, put her purse in one of the desk drawers and took her seat. Reaching for the mail she began to go through it.
* * *
“I think we're all done here,” said Agent Flame as he watched the crew packing up the last of their equipment. “Everything secure?”
“Yes, boss,” replied Agent Ash. “Everything is loaded into the vehicle and we're good to go.”
“Right. Everyone into the car,” Flame ordered and went for one last check of the premises. Satisfied they'd packed the most important evidence into the car and the remainder packed in readiness for the chopper to collect, Flame joined his team in the car for the drive back to HQ.
The sun was yet to break across the horizon and Flame knew it would be a while yet before he could rest. The team had worked through the day, following night and into the early hours of the morning to gather all the evidence at the residence. Now it would be up to the main forensics team back at HQ to analyze all the evidence and come up with answers.
Agent Spark waved them off, he was remaining at the crime scene to keep it secure and wait for the chopper to come back and pick up the remaining evidence.
* * *
“Commander?”
“Yes, Fiona?”
“I have forensics on the line for you.”
“Thanks, Fiona. Put it through please.”
“Right away, ma'am.”
“Une here.” Une listened as the head of forensics gave her a brief rundown on where they were with their current investigations.
“Thank you. I'll call down shortly with the team that's been allocated to this case as I want them in on the results,” Une told the head. “I'll call you when we're on our way.” Une hung up the phone and glanced at the clock. Picking up the phone again, she put a call through to the medical section.
* * *
“Doctor Po, here. Ah, Une. How are you this morning?” Sally inquired.
“I'm fine, thank you. Has Agent Day reported there yet?”
“Not yet, but he is due at any time.”
“When he gets in, please ask him and the other three to report to my office as soon as possible.”
“Will do.”
“Thank you.”
Sally hung up the phone and rubbed her tired eyes before turning to the nurse on duty. “I'm just going to check on Nurse Brown. Could you page me when Agent Day and his son get here, please?”
The nurse nodded and Sally left to check on her patient.
* * *
Chang parked the car, Heero getting out and starting to undo the various straps on the baby seat to release his son. Keitaro gurgled happily, doing his best to grab his father's hands and fingers with his own.
Trowa and Quatre pulled up beside them and moments later they were walking into Preventer and heading for the medical wing. Quatre carried a large bouquet of flowers that Heero had asked him to pick up for the nurse on their way in.
Arriving at the medical wing, the nurse there paged Sally and asked Heero to wait. The other three went on ahead to see the nanny and let her know Heero would be by very shortly. Sally arrived a couple of minutes later.
Leading Heero through to one of the examination rooms with Keitaro in his arms, she passed on Une's message. “You can leave Keitaro here with me whilst you go and see Une, Heero. I promise to look after him and the exam will take about an hour.”
Heero seemed reluctant to leave his son, preferring to have the child within his sight at all times, but he also had a job to do.
Noting the hesitation, Sally could fully understand and appreciate Heero's concerns. “I promise I will look after him, Heero. In fact, I'll keep him with me all day for you if that's okay with you. I don't have anything other than patient checks to do so he'll be doing me a favor by not letting me get bored and keep me sane too. I'll also be spending some time with Nurse Brown and I know she'll love to see him.”
Heero could see the logic and he did trust Sally. “Okay,” he said. “But Keitaro is to remain with you at all times. If your shift is going to finish and I've not returned to collect him by then, you will contact me and I'll come and get him.”
“No problem, Heero.”
“Arigato.” With a nod, Heero turned and left, stopping by Nurse Brown's room to collect the other three and pass on his wishes for a speedy recovery to the nanny.
The nurse had been warmed to see who her visitors were and pleased with the bouquet of flowers that had been given to her. Quatre explained that they were from Heero and handed over a box of chocolates that he's also bought on the way in from himself and Trowa.
They'd only been with the nanny for a few minutes when Heero arrived and informed them of Une's orders for them to report directly to her office. Exchanging a few words with the nanny and promising to stop by later for a proper 'chat', Heero and the others departed.
* * *
“Commander, the agents are here,” Fiona said down the comm line.
“Thank you, Fiona. Please, send them in.”
Four agents entered and all took seats, Une looking at each of them, Yuy in particular. The Japanese man had dark circles under his eyes and his face looked drawn. Understandable given the strain he was under. Once they were all comfortable, Une began to speak.
“I have called you all in here this morning as we have some results from forensics come in. I need you all to accompany me to the forensics lab for a complete briefing.”
“Has there been a lead from the evidence at the place where Duo was being held?” asked Heero.
“No, not as yet. Forensics is still working on that case and I hope to have something later today. No, this is in relation to Jefferies' accident.”
“Ah.” Whilst Heero was disappointed there wasn't anything forthcoming from the house they'd found his son and the nanny in, there might be a clue in the information relating to Jefferies' demise.
“Gentlemen, if you would follow me, please.” Une stood and led the way out of her office and to the forensics labs.
* * *
Duo and the rest of the group continued to press deeper into the lower regions of the colony, passing through a maze of tunnels. From what Duo could gather, they were in a part of what used to be the old garbage disposal system. When the colony was first designed and built, getting rid of the refuse was a simple case of gathering it all together in one spot and jettisoning it out into space. That practice was very quickly brought to an end as the ramifications of having garbage floating around in space near a colony were brought to the attention of the then, colony council.
Not long after, new ways of garbage disposal were brought into play and the old collection tunnels sealed off as they were no longer needed.
Continuing on through the tunnels they eventually came to what used to be the main collection point. It was here that they halted and Duo was quick to look about himself. The collection point consisted of a very large area, sub dived into slightly smaller areas where the refuse had been sorted, crushed and then packed to be sent out into space. From what Duo could tell, the entire area had been transformed into what he could only describe as a training facility.
He didn't get much of a chance to study the place for long though as the group was herded along a series of catwalks above the old collection point and into a slightly smaller area. Here they stopped again and Duo could see a mass of people up ahead, all lined up and standing to attention.
Just like an army.
His blood ran cold.
A solitary figure stepped up onto a podium at the far end of the area and looked over the assembled 'army'.
Duo's eyes widened and his heart rate sped up as he recognized the figure.
It was Dekim Barton.
~ * ~
tbc...