Ch. 12 A Death for Life
Deciding that Preventers would want to know about the breakthrough in the case, he called WuFei.
"You just can't get enough of me." Wufei said when they were connected.
Quatre noted how much WuFei had relaxed since their days during the wars. He still preached about the injustices of the world, but he was more laid back now.
"Yeah, that's it." He sounded a little like Heero in his monotone voice.
"Have a problem or did you crack this case for us?" While he was joking, he could tell that Quatre had something very important to say.
"Well, we think we know where he's been hiding all this time."
It was then WuFei noticed that Heero was gone.
"Where's Heero?" he demanded angrily. Heero was under strict orders to stay with Quatre and let Preventers handle the killer.
"He went after him." He watched as WuFei mumbled some obscenities under his breath.
"I'll send some agents over right away."
Quatre decided to fill WuFei in on all that they had uncovered and explained the killer's law of three.
"We finally figured out what the business cards have to do with everything."
"Really?" he was intrigued.
"The murders were always committed in sets of three and the clues left behind were only relevant on the third death. The first two business cards always pointed to the third victim and always had the initials MD, but the third death was different, the business card never connected to anyone else, but the initials were different."
"That was to be our first clue in locating him then." WuFei said sitting back in his chair, reflecting on everything Quatre had told him.
"Well, all the pieces are in play, now we just have to wait for the out come."
"I did find something else that might interest you."
Thinking that the case had been solved, Quatre was caught off guard with that statement.
"What?" He fumbled over the word.
"I decided to take a look at the files myself to see if I couldn't help you out some. Among all the other similarities in the cases I discovered that they were all soldiers that fought on our side during the war."
Quatre relaxed a little, it wasn't really pertinent information, but he was glad for it either way.
"Officer Melurik, she did some amazing thing during the war." WuFei watched as Quatre noticeably paled. "Quatre, what's wrong?" Concern lining his words.
"That's the connection, that's why that case was so important." Quatre whispered.
"Quatre, what's going, what did you say?"
"That's case, he was after the wife not the husband, but because she was female it didn't fit his all male murders. So he murdered the husband and put the business card on him to make it seem as though SHE had been in the wrong place at the wrong time." Quatre felt his blood run cold as WuFei stared at his panic struck face.
"Are you saying…" WuFei was cut short.
"That's exactly what I'm saying. He was never after me, he was after Heero!"
(o)(o)(o)
The building was dark and damp with a slight smell of mold clinging to the paint flecked walls. Gun drawn and held it to his side, he carefully checked around a corner. There was a hole that went up through several floors and he wondered what had caused the collapse in such an isolated location. There was a scrapping sound down the hall causing him to duck into an old room. Peering around the doorframe he spotted some rats feeding on some garbage on the floor. He let out the breath he hadn't known he was holding.
Returning to the hallway he made his way cautiously to its end, checking around every corner and looking into all abandoned rooms. At the end of the hallway he came across an old elevator that had long been out of service and a directory that explained what was on each floor. The glass that had once protected it was shatter and now lay in tiny fragments on the floor. Parts were fading from exposure to the elements, but he could still read the print. If anything the bastard would be in one of the laboratories.
Finding the laboratories to be on the third floor he headed towards the stairs. He checked the stairwell to make sure it was clear before he made his way up. With his back pressed against the wall he was out of sight if anyone looked over the railing into the stairwell. The silence was grating on his nerves sending all his senses into overdrive searching for the smallest hint of life.
As the stairs opened up onto the third floor landing he checked another corner before proceeding down one of the many hallways. Rounding one of the millions of corners in the abandoned building he saw a pale blue light coming from one of the distant rooms. He swiftly closed the gap, all of his training coming into use. All he had to do was kill this psycho and he could return to Quatre.
(o)(o)(o)
Quatre sprinted down the streets pushing people out of the way in his hurry. Heero hadn't been gone that long he might still have time to catch up. He only had one gun on him with one full magazine, Heero had taken all the rest. What had he been thinking when he'd let Heero walk out the door? If anything happened to Heero would personally see to it that this bastard had a slow and painful death.
The Medical Research and Development building loomed ominously in front of him. He heard shots ring out into the early evening air, bringing with them a deathly silence. It lasted only a minute before they came again making Quatre run even harder. There was still time, Heero wasn't inexperienced when it came to this sort of thing.
The doors to the building were already open, telling him that Heero had already gone inside. Standing just inside the doorway he stopped to catch his breath and listen for anything that would tell him where they were at. He heard voices drifting down from the collapsed ceiling a few floors up. Not sure where to go he picked a direction and ran hoping it would lead to the stairs. After running what must have been all the way around the building, he finally located the stairs and took them two or three at a time, stopping at the second floor to see if he could hear them. The voices were still above him so he continued up the stairs breathing heavily as he came to the third floor landing.
They were much closer now so he drew his gun. He ran in the direction of the voices not bothering to be quiet because they wouldn't hear him anyway.
(o)(o)(o)
Sliding up to the corner quietly he peered around it to find someone sitting at one of the lab stations with several computers on. His face was hidden in what little shadows there were in front of the computer screens.
"Welcome Heero." Came a deep voice.
If Heero was shocked, the killer never knew. He came around the corner glancing up at the ceiling to find a camera. He had been so careless that he hadn't even noticed them on his way through halls.
"I've been waiting a long time to meet you." The voice drawled. "I knew you would be the only one to figure this all out."
Heero didn't hesitate to empty his gun into the bastard. He didn't like killing an unarmed man, but he would make an exception this time. The man fell backwards off the stool he'd been sitting on and lay motionless on the ground. Throwing the empty gun on the ground he drew a second one from his back; something just didn't feel right. It was too easy.
Coming around the corner of the lab table he was greeted by a smiling killer and a gun. Shit! It was his only thought as the killer pulled the trigger and he tried to find cover, shooting behind him in case the killer got up. He ended up behind another lab station not too far away. Looking at his leg he noticed he'd been grazed, but he could accept that over what could have happened.
The damn bastard was wearing a bullet proof vest! He hadn't even considered that. Heero checked the magazine in his gun and found two rounds left and with only one other gun and a knife, he would have to make every shot count. He slammed the magazine back in place as the killer's voice echoed through the room.
"My expectations of you were so much higher; after all, you are the infamous 01 pilot, the perfect soldier."
"I'm far from perfect." Heero bit out the response.
The killer responded with a harsh laugh. "Aren't we all?"
"Why did you kill all those people?" He worked to keep him talking while his mind raced to come up with another plan.
"They were nothing! They were a disgrace to the military and didn't deserve to live."
"What about the woman?" his mind suddenly raced to only case that didn't make sense in all of this. "She didn't have anything to do with it, why kill her?"
Another laugh. "She had everything to do with it; her husband was the one that got in the way."
Heero wasn't listening as he glanced towards the door; he needed to get out of the small confines of the room. The killer had the upper hand in such tight quarters. There was a scuffling behind him and taking a quick look he found the killer trying to move into a better for a straight on shot. He fired as moved, trying to cover himself.
Heero emptied the second gun as the killer dashed across the open space between tables, before discarding it and drawing the last one. He darted towards another table while the killer found cover. There was no way he was going to give this guy an open shot.
"What part does Quatre play in all this?" Heero yelled from his side of the room. One full magazine, then he would have to resort to hand to hand.
"That little twit? Ha! I used you him."
The pure pleasure the man had in his voice for what happened to Quatre enraged him, but he couldn't let his emotions rule, not this time. There was more scrambling and Heero saw him move again to another table, firing as he moved. The position the killer was moving to was right next to Heero and that was just a little to close for him. He dove for another table trying to keep the distance. As he did he realized that he was further from the door than ever. The killer had been purposely moving him to a specific location, looking behind him he found the hole in the floor he'd seen earlier from the ground floor.
He didn't stop to hide behind the table but moved on passed the next few to get himself positioned closer to the door and forcing the killer to move with him. If this had been any other situation he would have walked in and started shooting, not bothering with cover. This was different, he wasn't dealing with an inexperienced guard or unsuspecting person, this was an expert who'd spent his life just killing and perfecting.
"I thought you were hired during the wars to kill!" He yelled above the shooting as he ducked behind a table for cover, one table away from the door.
"I was, but when they ended they thought they could just terminate me." There was a crazed inhuman laugh. "The world can't exist without wars or killers like myself, and you." The last words were said in after thought.
"I'm nothing like you! I don't go around killing people just because there isn't a war for me to fight in." Damn! He thought; his last weapon was out of ammo. He suddenly wished he were Trowa with an almost endless supply of weapons.
"Out of ammo?" the voice was close, very close, he didn't have a chance to reach for his knife when he was picked up and thrown against the wall next to the door.
His vision blurred for a moment while he tried to refocus. How the guy had gotten behind him without him hearing it, he would never know. The man brazenly stood before looking nothing like what Heero had thought he would.
He had long, wavy hair reaching his shoulders that was graying. Piercing, green eyes with a straight now that made him look more like a hawk than a man. He had a slender build with light muscling.
"You will be my greatest kill." He said, never lowering his gun. "I have never had this much pleasure in a kill."
Heero's face was blank his normal mask firmly in place. He watched the finger on the trigger pull back and heard the gunshot ring out loud and clear.
(o)(o)(o)
Quatre could hear them yelling and several more gunshots. Hearing all the weapons being discharged gave him hope, it meant that Heero was still alive. About fifty feet from the door and the shooting stopped pushing him to run faster. Silence meant death. He could see the killer with his gun raised at someone next to the door. Without thinking about the consequences he ran directly into the path of the gun as it went off.
There was a searing pain in his chest as his lungs stopped functioning. He couldn't breath and looking down at the blood beginning to seep through his shirt he knew why, his lung had been punctured. The shot had managed to spin him around some how and when he looked up he was staring into Heero's horror stricken face. He reached out towards Heero as his face began to fade from sight. He felt himself crumble to the floor as the foreboding darkness consumed him.
He never heard the anguish in Heero's voice as he screamed his name or saw the rage in Heero's eyes as he pulled his knife and went after the killer in a blind rampage. None of it was important, he had saved Heero by taking his place and that's all that really mattered.
(o)(o)(o)
I thought this would be the perfect place to end this, don't you think? I'll probably be severely punished for this one. If you hurt me I can't finish it, keep that in mind. LOL! I'm not sure how much I like the fight scene thing, but I can redo it at a later time. Hope you enjoy!