Chapter 9
A moment later Duo was alone in the docking bay with no idea how safe Heero was, nor any sense of where to look for a prisoner on a military airship. He made his way carefully down from the crates, wincing at the loud noise his boots made on the floor of the hanger. Before he opened the door to the ship proper he glanced around for anything that might be useful in a fight. The best he could find was a coil of thin rope laying on top of a crate just at the edge of the lamplight. He took a moment to tie it into a lasso and then slung it over his shoulder with a vague thought to use it to tangle or throttle an enemy. Then he slipped the razor out of his boot and into his hand.
The door slid open silently on well oiled rails and gave him a chance to look around the hallway before he stepped out. After being confined for so long to the narrow corridor of The Dutchman, the hallway was spacious. A few doors opened off either side, and there was a recess about halfway down the passageway that provided ladder access to the other levels of the ship.
The whole area was empty, but not silent, angry shouts echoed down the ladder shaft from the deck above. He couldn't distinguish the words, or even voices, but Duo was willing to bet the person yelling was Quatre. He listened carefully as he made his way down the hall, and was relieved when the cries sounded more angry than hurt. He hoped that would continue until he could find their source.
He was nearly to the ladder when he heard the unmistakable sound of boots on the rungs. Crossing his fingers he ducked into the nearest door. It opened on a narrow bunk room with two men sleeping heavily on the small beds inside. Duo flicked open his razor and held his breath as he listened to the boots stomp past down the corridor. The men on the bunks didn't so much as twitch, and he counted to thirty slowly before opening the door. Once again the passageway was deserted.
For a moment Duo considered slitting the throats of the men in the bunks. It would be quick, and he'd be done before either had a chance to wake and discover what was happening, but he discarded the thought almost immediately. He was not the kind of man to kill another in his sleep. He toyed for a moment with dressing himself in one of the guard's discarded outfits, but it seemed pointless. Even a large zeppelin was not big enough for crew members to not recognize each other on sight. Instead he looked quickly through the tangle of clothes dumped in the middle of the bunk room floor. As he had hoped there were a couple of loaded handguns tossed in among the scattered bits of uniform.
With a grim smile he stole both pistols and a hip holster, and made his way back into the hallway. By this point the yelling had stopped and Duo hoped that meant that Quatre had grown tired of making all the noise, not that he had been knocked out or badly hurt. He hurried up the ladder, cursing the clatter his boots made, and peeked out on the hallway of the second deck.
This floor clearly housed the observation decks, as an open doorway further down gave a glimpse of a large window. A guard stepped out of the room and closed the door behind him before moving across the hall. Duo watched as he unlocked a door on the near side of the hall and passed a canteen of water inside before he relocked it and took up a guard posture outside. Since it was the only guarded doorway Duo had seen on the whole ship, chances were good that it opened on the room where Quatre was being kept hostage.
"What would be really nice right now would be a distraction," he muttered.
As if on cue, there was a shudder and a loud bang from the starboard side of the shift. Several uniformed people rushed out of doorways and to the far side of the ship, including the foolish young man who had been guarding Quatre's cell. Figuring he didn't have any time to waste Duo hurried over to the abandoned door. He almost laughed out loud when he saw that the door "lock" was just a simple deadbolt installed on the outside. Quickly jamming the bolt open he stepped into the room and closed the door behind him. It wouldn't do to get caught loitering in the hallway when the guards lost interest in whatever had caused that loud bang.
"You!" Quatre said, shocked, when he realized who had rushed into the room.
"Me," Duo nodded examining the other young man where he sat on a well cushioned sofa that ran along one wall, "Trowa said I better come back with you or not at all."
Quatre stood without hesitation, the chain that had been attached to his harness clanking as it was jostled. The move also revealed the young woman who had been sitting on his far side. She was pretty enough, with wide blue eyes and fine blond hair held back by a pair of goggles. She was dressed in a fashionably cut flight jacket and wool skirt, all under another locked flight harness. Her expression was a bit wild eyed, and Duo suddenly realized that prisoner or not, if she screamed the guards would rush in without delay.
To his credit, Quatre also seemed to realize his companion's distress and he laid a gentle hand on her shoulder. "Miss Relena, this young man is a crew member on my ship, The Dutchman. He's here to free us."
Duo made an abortive gesture to tip a hat he wasn't wearing, and laughed self consciously, "Pleased to meet you miss, I'm Duo. Now please, I haven't got much time. If you'll both let me at your harnesses I'll have them unlocked in two shakes of a lamb's tail."
Quatre turned immediately to present the lock that rested in between his broad shoulders. Duo swore to himself as he realized that these locks were much newer, and therefore going to require tools much more delicate than a couple of bits of pipe and some swearing. Deciding it wasn't worth waisting the time to even try, Duo fisted the straps of the flight harness and cut them with quick sure motions of his razor.
"How are we escaping?" Quatre asked as the harness fell away.
"Heero and I have a glider on top of the envelope," Duo said as he moved to free Relena.
"Two seater?" Quatre asked.
"Shi- er, sugar!" Duo hissed just realizing the problem of fitting four people on a two person device, "Yes. You and the miss can take it. There are more gliders down in the hanger, we'll take one of those."
"Fly without a safety harness?" Relena asked, looking horrified.
"Unless you'd rather stay, here we haven't got a lot of choices miss," Duo replied.
She gave him a troubled look, "No, I'm afraid we don't. I'm sorry, I realize you weren't planning on having to rescue me."
"Miss Relena," Quatre chided gently, "of course we wouldn't leave you here. Not after Kushrenada has made it clear he will discredit your reputation over this."
"Oh thank you Quatre, regardless of your father's thoughts you truly are a gentleman."
Duo watched the polite exchanges as patiently as he could, but he was very aware of how very little time they had before the risk of getting caught became a certainty. "I'm sure there are plenty of social niceties to be observed during a rescue mission," he interrupted, "but I'm afraid we'll have to skip the rest. Come quick, we need to get you out of here."
"You said the glider was on top of the envelope?" Quatre asked.
"Yes, can you fly it?"
"It's one of The Dutchman's gliders?"
Duo nodded, and Quatre smiled, "Then it won't be a problem. Miss Relena and I will go out the window and we will await your glider from The Dutchman."
"Just don't let Mister Bossy Bloomers take off without us," Duo said, "I wouldn't put it past him."
Relena's smile was sweet, "I'm sure I can convince him to wait."
"A reasonable amount of time anyway," Quatre said.
Duo gave him a long look, he wanted to ask just what a 'reasonable' amount of time was, but he didn't think he'd like the answer. Instead he helped Quatre to open the window, and then gave Relena a boost out and steadied her as she got a grip on the rigging. "Will you be alright, miss?" he asked.
"I'm sure I'll be fine. I used to Captain my own little airyacht back home. Thank you for your help Mister Duo," and with a brief smile they were both gone around the curve of the gondola.
Duo nodded to himself then carefully cocked his stolen handgun. His ten minutes were nearly up and he wouldn't be able to count on Heero generating another mechanical failure to distract the guards. At the same time, he needed to keep Kushrenada's people from realizing their hostages had escaped for as long as he could. Not an easy task.
He pressed his ear against the door, listening for movement on the other side. He heard deep breathing, distant footsteps and some rustling. If the guard wasn't back then there were other people in the hallway that would see his escape. Giving up on that, Duo went back over to the window. He could remember where the cargo hold was, and he felt sure he could pry one of the small windows open enough to slip through. Once he was outside the ship he caught sight of Quatre and Relena making steady progress up the rigging toward the top of the airship. For a moment he was envious of their goggles as the wind stung his eyes, but then he turned his focus back to moving along the outside of the airship. The rigging on the gondola provided access between decks, but it didn't allow for easy movement from fore to aft.
Moving carefully, Duo made his way down and aft until he was clinging alongside one of the narrow windows. He was fairly sure he'd managed to locate a window over the stack of crates Heero and he had hid on before, but he couldn't be certain until he was inside. The window was not made to be opened at all, much less by a single man clinging to precarious rigging in a steady wind, but Duo was resourceful. Deciding that misdirection would be the best he could hope for, he pulled the handgun from his harness and shot out the thick glass of the window. He didn't waste time looking through or waiting to see if the crash had attracted attention. He dove headfirst through the window and rolled to a stop at the edge of the stack of crates.