Behind Closed Doors
Chapter Eleven: Lie to Me
"We're here," Sakura stated unnecessarily.
They stared up at the abandoned looking metal cannery. The foreign soup label atop the building had faded into near-obscurity. No lights shone from inside the foreboding place, and the sheets of falling rain did not improve the feeling. Their only light was the occasional flash of lightening accompanied by the thunder. The wind too had picked up, lashing rain at all angles.
Syaoran turned to her suddenly. "Wait here."
"Wha-?"
"No," he cut her off. "You're not coming with me. If I'm not back in an hour, something went wrong and I need you to contact the police. You have to get Kerri, Nathan and Aria out of there. Promise me, Miko."
"Of course, I already promised you I would protect them, with my life, if I have to," she replied urgently. "But-"
Syaoran cut off her protests abruptly with a kiss that seared her lips.
Sakura stopped thinking. All she could do was feel her elation race like a shock from her lips to the tips of her toes. He brought his hand up to the back of her head to hold her there for another moment before "Good-bye."
As quickly as it began he broke off their kiss and was out the car door, head bent against the rain.
Sakura sat frozen in her seat, her brain trying but failing to comprehend anything but what had just happened. Her eyes felt like they were stuck wide open. Her heart beat twice as fast as normal and her entire body felt flushed. He did that on his own. That was-
Her thoughts were cut short by another beep in her ear. She snapped back to reality.
"Damn that man," she hissed through her teeth. "Yes?" she asked sharper than she intended.
"It's Tomoyo," answered the person on the other line. "We're nearly there Sakura-chan. We're fifteen minutes behind you."
"They're not going to give him fifteen minutes," Sakura stated as she quickly undid her seatbelt. "Marlene and Carden are inside waiting to finish him off the moment he walks into that room."
"Where is he now?"
"The fool went in by himself," she muttered angrily, opening the car door.
"What?" came a chorus of replies.
"He caught me off-guard," Sakura explained as she stepped out into the storm.
"How-"
"Never mind that," Sakura cut in. "I'm going in after him. We can't wait. As soon as you guys get here, follow us in." Sakura disconnected the line as she fought her way to the entrance Syaoran had just disappeared through, the rain instantly drenching her.
She opened the door cautiously and stepped inside with her senses on high alert. She was soaked through and worried that she'd leave a trail or make more noise from the water. Can't help that now. She shut the door silently behind her before reaching down and releasing her gun from its hiding spot.
She squinted threw the semi-darkness, emergency lights illuminated the eerie place into shadows and darkness. On the ground before her she noticed a puddle-trail leading up the stairs to her immediate left. On catlike feet she followed, praying that none of the stairs squeaked.
She kept her back to the wall as she ascended. As she neared the top she spotted a dim light coming from a room halfway down the long hallway. She checked that the hallway was clear before cautiously but urgently making her way toward the lights, voices soon hit her ears.
"Where are they?" Syaoran's agitated voice became the first that she could make out clearly.
"Safe. For now," came Carden's reply.
"What do you want?" Syaoran all but snarled in anger.
"Your life," came the simple reply.
"For theirs," Marlene's voice entered the conversation for the first time.
There was a stunned silence.
"Marlene?" Syaoran's tone was one of incredulity and stunned horror. "…why?" His voice was pained.
Sakura felt her heart clench.
"Why not?" Marlene answered. "I want power, not you."
Sakura stopped just before the doorway. She slowly peeked her head in just far enough to view the situation in the room.
Marlene and Carden stood at the opposite end of the room, a door stood right behind them. Sakura assumed it was the one Marlene must have just entered through. Syaoran was halfway across the room, his expression reading like he had just walked into a nightmare he wanted to wake-up from. Sakura noted that his arms were up in a defensive position and she shifted to see the criminal duo better. She visibly held herself back as she saw that Marlene had a gun in her hand and had it pointed directly at Syaoran's heart.
"It was amusing for awhile," Marlene had continued. "But the game got old."
"…game?" Syaoran's face and voice said that he was nearly beyond comprehension.
"Oh don't act so surprised," Marlene sneered. "You call what we had a marriage?" She laughed in spite. "It was a joke! I played along for as long as I could stomach it." Her expression turned sour. "I convinced myself that conceiving your brats would continue your unwavering loyalty to me. And it worked." She smirked. "Your devotion to me was comical. And for once they ended up being useful; they added more pawns to the board."
Sakura tamped down on her temper and raging emotions. Letting herself get angry now would not help. It would only get her or Syaoran killed, if not both of them. She would give her emotions free reign later. Slowly she inched herself closer inside the door, her gun raised.
"You always did say that you would die for them," Marlene's smile was cool and confident, her arm never wavering as she released the safety. "And now you get to fulfill that promise."
The sound of a gunshot reverberated throughout the room.
Marlene's eyes went wide as she and Carden stepped away from each other. She looked quickly to her left to see a chunk of the wall missing near her head.
"Enough," Sakura's voice rang out.
The room's occupants all turned to stare at her.
"Warai-san?" Carden asked in disbelief.
"It's over Marlene," Sakura's tone was steely. "Put the gun down. Now."
Marlene recovered quickly, her eyes narrowing. "Who are you?"
"I'm an agent for Ava. I've been undercover for weeks." Sakura informed the silence, her gaze fixated on Marlene, as she removed the rain-streaked glasses from her face and tossed them aside. "I was assigned to watch you and bring you down."
"What…?" Syaoran's numb voice reached her. Sakura didn't dare look at the expression on his face.
There was a moment of stunned stillness before Marlene doubled over in malicious laughter. Carden looked at her uncertainly. "Perfect! How absolutely perfect!" She turned to Syaoran, still laughing. "Everyone you thought you could trust lied to you. How absolutely brilliant!" She struggled to regain most of her composure. "How does it feel, Syaoran dear, to know everything in your life has been a lie?"
Sakura kept her gun steady on Marlene, furious.
Marlene chuckled in amusement as she let her gun hang loosely at her side. She reached out to Carden, who grasped her hand, and drew him closer to her before kissing him full on the lips. They deepened it, incorporating lewd acts the longer they played with each other. Sakura hissed, fuming, and looked away from the disgusting display. Unfortunately her gaze focused on the only other person in the room.
Syaoran was shattered.
Sakura watched as he fell to his knees on the cement floor.
Her heart fell with him.
Marlene broke off her actions with delighted laugher. "Tell me, dearest," she directed at Syaoran. "How does it feel to know you can never trust anyone ever again without questioning yourself? Can you trust anyone in your life now?"
Out of the corner of her eye, Sakura saw Carden make a sudden move. She moved instantly to counter it. Carden made to grab for Sakura's gun, and the two became locked in a struggle for control.
Marlene sauntered over to Syaoran.
"Li-san!" Sakura called. "Get up! Now!"
Marlene stopped in front of Syaoran and brushed his hair back almost endearingly. She gripped his hair with a sudden force and yanked his head back to face her.
"Syaoran!" Sakura yelled desperately.
"Tell me Syaoran. How does it feel to know the girl you were crushing on was lying to you as effectively as I was?" Marlene read his expression clearly.
"Oh yes, I knew about your little crush. I'd say that I even knew better than you did yourself. She was the perfect distraction for me. I moved around so much easier when you were caught up in your little infatuation." She let out a pretend gasp of surprise. "Oh! But let me guess, you didn't act on your feelings for her because of me, right? Your perfect wife? Your perfect world." Her mocking sneer became ugly. "Tsk, tsk dear husband. Falling for another woman when you're already married."
"Syaoran! Don't listen to her," Sakura yelled as she and Carden attempted to get a solid hold on the other.
Marlene continued to address only Syaoran. "What? You didn't know that you were falling for her?" She laughed. "Can you even trust yourself?"
She let out a pretend sigh. "And now you know that she's not even who you thought she was. Your precious Miko, if that's even her name," she scoffed, "has been lying to you since the beginning. We both have. She only got to you so that she could get to me. And I only got to you for what you could give me."
She bent closer and whispered in Syaoran's ear. "Want to know how many men I've slept with since we've been together? Doesn't it make you wonder if those brats are even your kids? Can you ever be sure of anything anymore? Mmmm…and all that lovely money I took from your company all these years, it's a small wonder you never ran into any financial difficulties or you would have nothing to keep your business afloat in a crisis…"
She looked into Syaoran's wide eyes, her grip never loosening. "I did plan to kill you tonight to get you out of the way. Failing that, my current playmate and I were going to take that money and run, leaving you ruined in every way possible; financially, emotionally, mentally, physically if we were given the chance, and of course your reputation would've been dragged through the mud…" She sighed in defeat. "Oh well, it was fun while it lasted."
She looked over at Carden and Sakura struggling and noted that Sakura was about to get the upper hand.
"Your little crush is good…too good." Her eyes narrowed. "But I don't plan on going anywhere with anybody." She looked back at him in contemplation. "If I can't kill you or get what I want, then…hmmm…" Her mind came to a conclusion. "Yes, that is a wonderful solution."
She brought her gun back up. Sakura noted the new movement with horror. "Syaoran! Marlene! No!"
Marlene spared one more smirk of disdain for the woman she thought had been her office assistant. Then she took her gun and placed it in Syaoran's hands, wrapping her hands around his. Syaoran stared at her uncomprehendingly. Marlene knelt in front of him, staring into his eyes as she positioned the nozzle of the gun against her chest, directly in front of her heart.
"Know this," she whispered intently. "I'd rather be dead than with you for another moment. And as my blood covers your hands, know that you'll never be able to trust another person again. Not even yourself." A malicious smile reached across her lips. Marlene leaned in so that her lips were next to Syaoran's ear. "It has and always will be a lie." Her hand squeezed Syaoran's around the trigger.
There was a deafening bang as another gunshot rang inside the room.
Marlene's limp body fell on top of Syaoran. Blood quickly seeped into his once-white shirt and spread in a warm puddle down to the ground.
"Syaoran! Marlene! No!" came two very different, but just as anguished voices, filling the silence left behind.
"We entered the building just as the gunshot went off," Rika explained to the giant dark screen in front of her.
"When we entered the room, Sakura-chan was trying to shake Li-san out of his paralysis," Tomoyo followed.
"Carden had vanished after striking Sakura across the face when she was distracted by the gunshot and her head hit a wall. By the time we reached the right room, Carden along with Marlene's body was gone, but judging by the amount of blood that was on the floor and on Li-san…no one can live through that amount of blood loss," Naoko finished. "Li Marlene is gone."
"Confirmed," came one of the voices from the screen.
"And Kinomoto?" the other voice asked.
"Warai Miko resigned from Ookami Inc the next day after claiming 'extreme trauma,'" a rather subdued Chiharu informed Ava's head directors. "Too many witnessed them leaving the building that day to not know she was involved in the incident somehow."
"The official report states that a guilt-ridden Marlene committed suicide after her many indiscretions mounted too high for even her to handle," Tomoyo continued. "Warai Miko and Li Syaoran were unable to convince her to live or able to move fast enough to stop her." She paused. "An empty coffin was cremated then buried privately in an 'undisclosed' location, away from public or media eyes. Neither Syaoran-san nor his children attended the burial, but that is a matter for our records only."
"Would you have attended the funeral of a horrific woman who did nothing but wreak havoc on your lives?" Chiharu muttered.
"Any evidence of our presence was erased at the scene and at Ookami Inc. Nothing remains," Naoko stated.
"Good," the first voice answered. There was a pause. "And where is Kinomoto now?"
Tomoyo's face fell fractionally. "She's…taking a break, Sir and Ma'am. Just for a few weeks. She is organizing her report and her…thoughts."
"Well done team," one of the androgynous voices rang out.
"Yes, another excellent job," the second voice agreed. "We will present you with your next case soon."
"Thank you," came the chorus of girls in the room, but for the first time it fell rather flat of true sincerity.