"Are you sure about that? A Lear jet left Japan on Friday night and again on Sunday, destination unknown, each time carrying a sick person for treatment? And that didn't raise any flags for you?"
"No, sir. The Lear Jet is owned by Tanomu Corporation, the equivalent of America's "Make-a-Wish" foundation that gives terminally ill children their dream vacation. It is entirely possible that the two patients were, in fact, terminally ill."
Duo sighed in irritation. Just how blind could a person be? "Did you not see the security tapes? Didn't you notice in both cases the individual was unconscious?"
The uncomfortable pause on the other end of the call told Duo all he needed to know. Money had changed hands. Customs officials had looked the other way. Resisting the urge to yell at the man, he thanked him and hung up the phone.
Frowning, he immediately dialed the number of the pilot in both cases. At this point, he didn't care that it was three in the morning in Japan. Fifteen minutes and several threats later, Duo had their first real lead since the evidence the kidnappers themselves had left behind.
"Wufei, Ding, I have a possible lead here!"
Eyeing him warily, Wufei grumbled, "This had better be good, Maxwell."
"What if I told you a Lear jet left Japan on Friday evening, and the same Lear jet left Japan again Sunday evening, and both times landed in Ireland? What if I told you the pilot was given an extra $20,000 both times to ignore the fact that one of his passengers was unconscious? Would that be good enough?"
Wide-eyed, Wufei nodded. "Do we know what mode of transportation they used after they landed?"
Duo shook his head. "I haven't gotten there yet. Would you be willing to help? At this point, you're better at hacking into databases than I am." Lowering his voice slightly, he added, "Should we tell Heero?"
Wufei and Ding both glanced at Heero before shaking their heads. "We shouldn't tell him anything unless there's a concrete lead."
Duo nodded. "What about Setsuna? She might be able to speed up the process…"
"Again, no. Maxwell, your lack of discretion shames me."
"Hey! I'm just trying to help! I don't see you coming up with any amazing leads!"
"Maybe that's because I've been busy planning out possible rescue scenarios with Ding!"
"Guys!" Quatre interjected. "Please don't fight. We have enough to worry about as it is!"
Duo stuck his tongue out at Wufei. "I'll apologize if he does," he added childishly.
Groaning, Quatre leaned back in his chair. A soft exclamation from Trowa drew his attention. Trowa almost never made noise unless he wanted to.
"Trowa?"
Trowa looked briefly at Quatre before returning to his computer screen. "According to these records, the airfield Duo indicated supplies only one car rental service. At the approximate times of landing, a black Lexus was rented both times. According to GPS tracking of the Lexus, it stopped at a small farmhouse about an hour outside of Dublin owned by William and Mary O'Connell."
Eyebrows raised, Duo's only comment was, "Damn."
Trowa glanced at him briefly. "You aren't the only one who can be efficient, Duo. Commander Chavez, may I suggest a deployment to the farmhouse in question?"
Ding nodded. "Let me get Mr. C on the phone for approval." Turning to his team, he called for attention. "Guys, we have the best lead we've gotten. I'm going to talk to Mr. C about doing a deployment to the target location. In the meantime, suit up. Hopefully, we'll be off the ground in an hour."
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The helicopter flew low over the Irish countryside. Sparing a glance at his watch, Wufei noticed it was just shy of eleven in the evening. The element of surprise should be theirs. Ding conferred briefly with Bear, and raised his hand to indicate five minutes left until they arrived on site. The plan was for two teams of five men to zip line off the helicopter about one hundred meters from the house. One team would check the barn, the other would contain the suspects in the home.
Taking a deep breath, Wufei nodded as Ding signaled the thirty second mark and snapped his harness onto the line as Duo did the same on the other side of the helicopter. When the helicopter was fifty feet from the ground, the team began pouring out of the helicopter.
Louis was first off the helicopter, and he quickly swept the area for hostiles. Finding none, he assumed point on the team for the barn, while Ding led the team into the house. A short sprint and two flash-bangs later, they had a very surprised elderly couple held at gunpoint. It seemed their lead had led them astray. Hearing the all-clear from the barn team, Ding turned to Wufei in surprise.
"What the hell?!"
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Escaping had been more easily accomplished than Jun would have ever believed possible. One moment, he was pretending to have a seizure, the next, the guard was falling to the ground, a nasty lump beginning to form on the back of his head. Before Jun could sit up, Usagi was searching the guard's pockets for anything useful. She put his gun in the waistband of her tailored pants and grabbed the ring of keys from his belt. Finally, she unclipped his walkie-talkie and nodded to Jun.
After a brief struggle with the guard's inert form, they managed to lift him onto the bed and began tying his arms and legs with shredded sheets. Placing a sheet over his form, the two had closed the door of their cell and slipped into the duct above Usagi's bed.
About five minutes after entering the duct, Usagi had told Jun to stay put while she grabbed a couple things from the room they were about to pass. When she returned, her arms were laden with a black laptop, her purse and a first aid kit. Moments later, they reached the end of the duct, and, as Usagi had predicted, the garage.
Listening for any signs of activity, they slipped out of the duct and crept towards the black Lexus parked in the open-air garage. Usagi had slipped into the driver's seat while Jun crawled into the passenger seat. Without turning the lights on, she'd gunned the engine and sped down the gravel driveway towards the highway. Having no idea which direction to go but away from their captors, Usagi turned right onto the highway and accelerated rapidly.
Jun glanced at the clock. It was just after one in the morning.
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Returning from a mission gone bad was always difficult. Ding and the others had honestly believed they would find Usagi and Jun at the O'Connell's house. They were understandably surprised when they learned that the car rented from the airstrip was a replacement for the O'Connell's Lexus that had been totaled in a collision with a tractor the week before.
After an hour of questioning, Ding was forced to admit they were innocent and to apologize for their mistake.
In the meantime, their best lead had just evaporated. How they would find Usagi and Jun now was beyond him.
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Four hours later, Usagi pulled the car into a small gas station. When Usagi got out of the car with the laptop in her hands, Jun looked at her in surprise.
"What are you doing?"
"It's too dangerous to keep using that car." Usagi replied grimly. Entering the gas station, she purchased a map of the area and got directions to the nearest train station. On her way out the door, she saw a rack of clothing and called Jun over. Five minutes later, both of them emerged from the gas station in new clothing.
They had to run to make the train that would take them to England. Once on the train, Jun curled up to sleep and Usagi began studying the map she'd purchased. By the time the train arrived at Waterloo Station, she'd marked the route they had driven to the best of her ability.
Stumbling off the train, Usagi pulled Jun towards a small gift shop that was just opening for the day. After a brief conversation, the shopkeep pointed her in the direction of a cell phone stand. Fifteen minutes later, Usagi had a prepaid cell phone in her hand and was dialing the number of the only people she knew were in England.
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The team's daily briefing was interrupted by Wufei's cell phone ringing. Smiling sheepishly, he answered. "Hello?"
"Wufei? It's Usagi."
"Usagi?!" He started choking on his coffee.
Duo's head whipped around, and he quickly abandoned the briefing in favor of Wufei's cell phone. Wufei was listening now, writing feverishly on a scrap of paper. Thirty seconds later, Wufei hung up the phone and stood up.
"Wufei, what's going on?"
"Usagi and Mr. Tanaka are in Waterloo Station. She's going to trash the phone she used and activate another, and we're going to meet up with them in 95 minutes outside the Starbucks on the second level. We're supposed to call when we're fifteen minutes away. My guess is they're going to hide out until then."
Wufei said all this in a rush as he grabbed his gun and a spare clip. Since most of the team heard Wufei's explanation, they too grabbed their sidearms and headsets. Ding placed a call to Peter Covington's team, and in less than five minutes, they had a team of twelve assembled to go meet Usagi and Jun.
As they started their cars, Trowa slipped into the seat next to Wufei. Raising an eyebrow, Wufei commented, "I didn't know you cared, Barton."
"Quatre will stay with Heero." Trowa replied, looking straight ahead.
"Wufei?" His headset crackled. "Did Usagi say how they escaped or when?"
"No, she didn't, and I wasn't foolish enough to ask over an open line, Maxwell." Wufei began rubbing his temples. Sometimes, the braided pilot could be really thick.
"Let's get a move on. We've got less than 90 minutes until the rendezvous, and London is 85 minutes away." Louis grumbled.
"We could go most of the way with sirens blazing," Duo offered, which drew a smirk from the drivers of every car. It wasn't every day they got to drive two times the legal speed limit without fear of being pulled over.
"Maxwell, your occasional insight has proven to be valuable," Wufei allowed.
"I knew you loved me, Wufei!"
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So, there's that. Obviously, I have no idea about trains/transportation in Ireland and England, but this is AC201 or so, so I think it's safe to say there would be a train connecting Ireland to England in my world…