Trying not to sob, she stared at the ceiling. She avoided looking at what was left of her home, or her husband, knowing both would send her into an uncontrollable fit of hysteria. A sudden knocking at their front door captured the attention of husband and wife, both of whom attempted to cry out through their gags. He lifted his foot to bang against the kitchen table, and the toaster oven toppled off with a resounding crash.
Abruptly, the knocking cut off and the door opened. Recognizing their neighbor, both of them sobbed with relief, knowing their ordeal was over. Their chief concern was what had happened to their daughter—who took her, and why?
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His eyes snapped open at the incessant ringing of his cell phone. It was three in the morning—who could possibly be calling him? When he saw the caller ID was his wife's parent's home, he automatically picked up, thinking his wife wanted to talk about something. This wasn't unusual—in fact, some of her best ideas came to her in the middle of the night, and he often listened and helped her form the idea until it was practical.
"Hello?" His voice rasped with tiredness.
Listening to the hysterical woman relating the story of the kidnap of his wife, he clutched the phone so tightly he was afraid it would break. Taking a steadying breath, his eyes glinted with the promise of death for whoever had done this.
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Her head was throbbing, most likely from when the masked man had struck her on the temple with the butt of his gun. She moved to stretch her arms, but realized quickly they were tied behind her back. The second thing she realized what that her arms were numb, and as soon as she moved, her shoulders ached in pain.
Looking around the room, she noticed that aside from the cot she had been placed upon, the only other furnishing was an identical cot on the other side of the room. There was a small toilet between the beds. A dim light burned above the bed, and a steel door blocked her escape. There were no windows, so for all she knew, she could have been unconscious for days.
The last thing she realized was that she wasn't alone. One of her kidnappers stood in the shadowy corner of her cell. Catching her eye, he said, "We need to talk."
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His side burned with pain, and he knew he wouldn't be able to outrun his pursuers for much longer. By no means a strong man, the small knife wound to Jun Tanaka's side sapped his strength and made him stumble more than he could afford to. Chancing a look behind him, he missed the crack in the sidewalk that would send him sprawling.
Landing in a heap, he rolled over and attempted to stand back up. Before he could so much as move, his pursuer pointed a gun at his heart, and saying, "Enough games," quickly shot Jun Tanaka with a tranquilizer.
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If there was one thing Duo Maxwell hated more than anything else, it was waking up early in the morning. Why he had taken this gig in England was beyond him. Stumbling downstairs, he arrived in the kitchen of his small home, and saw his partner in crime, Wufei Chang, pouring him a cup of coffee. With a small grunt of appreciation, he took the strong Arabian coffee, a Christmas gift from his friend Quatre Winner, and headed for the refrigerator to look for something edible.
Wufei clucked in disdain. "Oversleep again, Maxwell? You know the Commander will have your head for this."
Duo grimaced. "It's too early for the lecture, okay? If you must know, I was researching that new crime syndicate Heero sent us the information about. They might be behind that hostage taking in Bern we dealt with last month."
Wufei fell silent, knowing Duo's instincts were usually dead on. Nodding slightly, he grabbed a towel, bottle of water and his cell phone. Grumbling slightly, Duo gulped down his coffee and followed suit. They left the small home on base and jogged to the track. After all, Wufei was right. It wouldn't do to be late.
When they arrived at the track, most of the others were there, including Commander Domingo Chavez, leader of their unit. The Rainbow team comprised of two squads. The point of Rainbow was to end hostage situations without getting any of the hostages killed. Since Duo and Wufei had joined the team six months before, they had participated in four missions, and hadn't lost a hostage yet. Their success was due, in large part, to their fanatical training regimen.
Called to order, the two squads began their daily five mile run. Once they had finished, they would return home briefly to change, then head to the office for a day of work. Today, Duo and Wufei's team would be running a hostage simulation. As the resident explosive expert, Duo was looking forward to today's challenge, and the chance to test the new timing device he'd been working on.
As the run came to a close, they walked a half-lap to cool their bodies down. Laughing and trading jokes, they headed back towards their duffel bags. Reaching down for his towel, Wufei frowned as he saw that he'd missed a call. Flipping his phone open, his eyes widened slightly to see that Heero Yuy, his comrade from the wars and friend, had called. He hadn't left a message.
Hitting the redial button, Wufei waited impatiently. The phone was answered on before the second ring.
"Wufei." Heero's voice rasped with exhaustion.
He felt a hint of trepidation make its way down his spine. "Heero? What's wrong?" Without thinking about it, Wufei slipped into Heero's native tongue, Japanese.
Duo had been chatting with Paddy Connolly, the other explosives expert, when he heard the urgency in Wufei's voice. Slipping to Wufei's side, Duo paled as he heard Heero's message.
"Usagi's been kidnapped. We have no idea if it's because of me or because of her government work. All we know is that she was taken on Friday night. The kidnappers didn't say anything to her, left her parents alive, and left no ransom note. She's been gone for three full days."
Duo and Wufei exchanged a worried glance. Before Heero and Usagi had met at university five years ago, Heero had rarely showed emotion, and even more rarely allowed his distress to be known to others. But today, even a stranger would have heard the emotion in the Perfect Soldier's voice.
"Heero, is there anything we can do?" Duo asked quietly.
By now, the men in both units had picked up on the fact that something wasn't right. Duo, normally energetic to the point of driving the others crazy was somber, and the mischievous twinkle in his eyes had gone out. Duo waited patiently for his best friend to reply, knowing that Heero did things in his own time. Finally, he replied in a dark voice,
"Help me find them. Help me find them and annihilate them."
Wufei nodded. "Of course. Usagi's like a sister to us. Send us any information you have, and we'll get on it."
"There's one more thing," Heero paused. "There was some sort of message left at her parent's house, but it's not Japanese. We can't figure out what language it is, but the detectives are certain it isn't a ransom note. I'll send it to you, along with Ikuko and Kenji's descriptions of the attack."
"Thanks. Heero, we'll get her back," Duo promised.
"I know." With that, Heero hung up.
"Shit," Duo muttered, switching back to English. "Commander, we have a situation. One of our comrades from the wars, his wife was kidnapped several days ago. They don't know if it's in connection to his past or her current job, but odds are Relena Peacecraft will contact us for our assistance before the day's over. Requesting permission to scrap today's mission and instead focus on finding Usagi Yuy."
Domingo Chavez, better known as Ding to his comrades-in-arms, studied Duo and Wufei's serious faces. Neither would back down, he knew. But he also knew he wouldn't jeopardize his team's mission readiness.
"Why would Relena Peacecraft, former queen of the world and Queen of Sanc Kingdom personally call us?"
"Because Usagi interned under Relena several years ago, and because Heero will ask her to do it, sir. Not to mention, the last we heard, Usagi was working on a government project above the Top Secret level. The Japanese government will probably also call on Relena for assistance."
Frowning, Domingo sighed. He knew when he'd been beat. Nodding slightly, he led the way to their team office, so that they could look at whatever scant evidence they had, and go from there.
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Usagi Yuy, formerly Usagi Tsukino, sent her kidnapper a hard glare. She didn't have anything to say to the man, and she didn't want to have to listen to him, either. These people had broken into her home and nearly killed her parents! Her inattention didn't stop him from approaching her and drawing a knife. Instinctively flinching, she was surprised when he cut the bonds at her wrists and stepped back several feet.
"I'm sorry for the coarse treatment you've received thus far, Mrs. Yuy. Please know that those were not my orders. If you cooperate, I will even guarantee your safety for the duration of your stay with us. Some of the men are, shall we say, sadists…"
Usagi cut him off. "Who the hell do you think you are, kidnapping me from my home?! I demand you release me immediately!"
He sighed. "I'm afraid that's not possible. You see, Project Serenity must never get off the ground. If I simply let you go, it will go ahead without a hitch. You will tell me everything you know. If you choose not to, let's just say you'll become better acquainted with the sadists of our group."
Usagi's blood ran cold. Her bad week had just gotten much, much worse. If her kidnappers knew of her involvement with the Project, she would likely be killed rather than ever released. She took solace in the fact that her counterpart, Jun Tanaka's identity should still be safe. What she wasn't ready for was the cell door opening, and a groggy man being pushed forward. As he sank to the bed on the other side of the room, Usagi couldn't help but gasp. If they knew Jun Tanaka's identity and role in the Project, what else did they know?
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I'm back (sort of). Just had this idea for a fic, decided to write it. I know I still have a few unfinished ones out there, but I'm working on them. Sometimes, a new idea helps stir up the old creative juices…
I don't own Sailor Moon, Gundam Wing, or Rainbow Six by Tom Clancy. If I did, I wouldn't be posting stories online…^_^;