~~~~~~~Chapter three~~~~~~~
*L1*
Aching Zechs opened his eyes; the room was so dark he might as well have kept them closed.
He was so drowsy; 'they drugged me,' he thought through the fog of his mind.
Feeling pain shoot up from his broken knee, Zechs wished they would be back with more drugs soon. However, instead of closing his eyes and wishing for relief, as was his first instinct, Zechs
used his pain to stay focused.
'Who.... are they?' he asked of his mind trying to remember the last few hours before he had lost
consciousness.
Though the fog on his mind was not lifting, he remembered following someone.
'I was following the man from the vacation resort. The one who had been watching me all day,' Zechs recalled; trying to move his hands he realized they were tied behind his back. The ropes binding his hands to the back of the chair and his feet to the legs were so tight he could barely feel his limbs.
'He had been following me around.... spoke to people I had... been questioning.'
Zechs' busted right leg was throbbing with pain now as the drugs that had been fogging his mind finally wore off.
Remembering how he had been unimpressed with the tanned man who was trailing him, Zechs had been under the impression that his shadow was a rookie. Easily losing him, Zechs had then begun to follow the hunter. But then, Zechs had been led to a dead end, where four other men waited to beat the crap out of him.
Feeling his head starting to ache too, he remembered they had done a good job.
Before his capture, Zechs had learned of stolen, self-destruct, Alliance missiles, the kind used if their bases were about to be captured.
The particular missiles that Zechs was concerned with had somehow been sold on the black market. Who now claimed ownership and how he planned to use them, Zechs had been still digging for.
Once again trying to focus in the dark and wishing for painkillers, Zechs began devising an escape.
"Noin" his voice cracked a bit "If I've ever needed you, it's now," Zechs said into the empty room while picturing in his mind's eye the one person who had never failed him.
--------------------------
*Across the street*
"Any movement?" Sally asked her partner as she sat down bags of food on a small counter.
"None," Wufei replied from his place on the couch.
Leaning over the back of the couch to watch the building across the street, Wufei saw Sallys' reflection in the window. She was taking off her coat and he saw the hilt of her gun poking out from her belt.
As he watched her reflection turn around to search in one of the bags, he turned sideways and poked at the box of the so-called Chinese food from the deli that was sitting beside him. Wufei made a sour face, "did you get any real food?"
Sally laughed because she hated the deli stuff too. It was nothing like what her father made.
"I'm going to make some rice balls." It was the only traditional Chinese dish Sally had ever learned to cook. A fact, at moments like these, she regretted. As she pulled out cheap junk food, (it was just about all she could afford on their budget), she glanced at Wufei.
Pushing away the deli box, Wufei's stomach growled. "It'll do."
As movement caught Wufei's well-trained eyes, he pulled out his binoculars and looked once more at the entrance across the street. "We have someone!" he called out to Sally. "This one is new."
Grabbing her camera off of the end table at Wufei's elbow, Sally too focused on the door and started snapping away. "Come on... look up," Sally pleaded as she rapidly got picture after picture of the man, but none of them with his face.
"He can't hear you," Wufei said as he watched the man going in without complying with Sally's wish.
Putting her camera down Sally nodded. "Which is a good thing, even if I didn't get a face shot," she said with some disappointment. The first activity they'd had in the last seven hours of staking out the old rundown building and they could not identify him. It was enough to make Sally pull her hair out infrustration. With a Chinese curse spoken under her breath she rapped her nuckles on the table top.
"I got a look at him," Wufei said hearing Sally's curse. He did not like seeing her so dissapointed. She usually kept him from losing his patience at having to wait, so having her become so downcast was not something he would take lying down. "I'll record my description on tape and send it into a sketch artist."
As Wufei started to get up, Sally pushed him back down and sat in his lap. "I have a better idea," she said smiling into his dark eyes that she loved so much.
Leaning in for a kiss, Sally wrapped her arms around him.
Ding-dong!
Jerking up at the sound of the doorbell, Wufei almost sent his partner and fiancée to the floor.
Catching herself, Sally grabbed for her gun from where she kept it behind her back. Looking at Wufei, who also had his gun drawn, the two headed for the door.
Ding-Dong the bell went again, this time accompanied by a woman's "Yoo-hoo!! Anyone home?!"
Recognizing the voice of their new neighbor, Mrs. Drake, Sally sighed and handed her gun to Wufei.
"Get those out of sight, and I'll deal with her," Sally said as she reached the door.
Glad he would not have to deal with the overbearing, noisy, and big mouthed widow, Wufei took the guns to the bedroom.
There was another window in that room where he could go back to watching the building suspected to contain agent Wind. However, Wufei wished that he could be carrying out Sally's "Better idea."
"Hello, Mrs. Drake," Sally greeted the widow with a smile. The older woman was lonely and came bythree or four times a day just to gossip. 'It's almost noon, Widow Drake must be done getting the latest scoop from the hair salon early,' Sally thought as the woman of her thoughts greeted her.
"Oh hello, Sally, dear" Myrtle Drake greeted the young woman as she peeked in and around Sally. "Where's that brother of yours?" she inquired as she managed to push her way in.
Sally stifled a sigh as she tried to be the gracious hostess. "Wufei is out right now. Did you wish to see him?"
Myrtle frowned in disappointment, she had hoped to corner Wufei and fill him in on all of Violet's good points. 'Just as well,' She thought. 'He would have proubly found a way out of it.' "Today I found out that Miss Shermen's niece is coming all the way from L2."
Shaking her bleached blonde head, the forty-seven year old, trying to look twenty, woman went into one of her long-winded gossiping sessions.
"Miss Shermen could never catch a man because she just wasn't very soft on the eyes. But let me tell you, Violet Shermen is one of the most beautiful girls I've ever met. Now she's not just long legs and eyelashes either, she was a straight A student. She moved all the way to L2 because of her work."
Myrtle stopped long enough to get a breath. "I can't quite recall what she does, something about studding space travel, but that doesn't really matter."
The woman was now waving both of her hands frantically back and forth. Sally got ready for Myrtle's exclamation. "She's just perfect for Wufei! I Just know the two would fall head-over-heals in love if I could get the two of them in the same room."
In the four days since Sally and Wufei had moved in posing as half-brother and -sister, Myrtle Drake had been trying to play matchmaker with Wufe. This was the second girl that she had got stuck in her mind would be perfect for Wufei.
Of all of Myrtle Drakes character flaws this was the only one Sally had a hard time being gracious about.
"Now Sally, dear, you've just got to help me!" Myrtle whined as she put a hand on Sally's shoulder. "I know the last one didn't turn out so well but I promise this one will be different. All I need you to do is get that brother of yours to stay in the same room long enough for me to introduce him to Violet."
Before Sally could think of a way to stall Mrs. Drake, she heard a loud crash and Wufei letting out a string of curses.
*L1*
Aching Zechs opened his eyes; the room was so dark he might as well have kept them closed.
He was so drowsy; 'they drugged me,' he thought through the fog of his mind.
Feeling pain shoot up from his broken knee, Zechs wished they would be back with more drugs soon. However, instead of closing his eyes and wishing for relief, as was his first instinct, Zechs
used his pain to stay focused.
'Who.... are they?' he asked of his mind trying to remember the last few hours before he had lost
consciousness.
Though the fog on his mind was not lifting, he remembered following someone.
'I was following the man from the vacation resort. The one who had been watching me all day,' Zechs recalled; trying to move his hands he realized they were tied behind his back. The ropes binding his hands to the back of the chair and his feet to the legs were so tight he could barely feel his limbs.
'He had been following me around.... spoke to people I had... been questioning.'
Zechs' busted right leg was throbbing with pain now as the drugs that had been fogging his mind finally wore off.
Remembering how he had been unimpressed with the tanned man who was trailing him, Zechs had been under the impression that his shadow was a rookie. Easily losing him, Zechs had then begun to follow the hunter. But then, Zechs had been led to a dead end, where four other men waited to beat the crap out of him.
Feeling his head starting to ache too, he remembered they had done a good job.
Before his capture, Zechs had learned of stolen, self-destruct, Alliance missiles, the kind used if their bases were about to be captured.
The particular missiles that Zechs was concerned with had somehow been sold on the black market. Who now claimed ownership and how he planned to use them, Zechs had been still digging for.
Once again trying to focus in the dark and wishing for painkillers, Zechs began devising an escape.
"Noin" his voice cracked a bit "If I've ever needed you, it's now," Zechs said into the empty room while picturing in his mind's eye the one person who had never failed him.
--------------------------
*Across the street*
"Any movement?" Sally asked her partner as she sat down bags of food on a small counter.
"None," Wufei replied from his place on the couch.
Leaning over the back of the couch to watch the building across the street, Wufei saw Sallys' reflection in the window. She was taking off her coat and he saw the hilt of her gun poking out from her belt.
As he watched her reflection turn around to search in one of the bags, he turned sideways and poked at the box of the so-called Chinese food from the deli that was sitting beside him. Wufei made a sour face, "did you get any real food?"
Sally laughed because she hated the deli stuff too. It was nothing like what her father made.
"I'm going to make some rice balls." It was the only traditional Chinese dish Sally had ever learned to cook. A fact, at moments like these, she regretted. As she pulled out cheap junk food, (it was just about all she could afford on their budget), she glanced at Wufei.
Pushing away the deli box, Wufei's stomach growled. "It'll do."
As movement caught Wufei's well-trained eyes, he pulled out his binoculars and looked once more at the entrance across the street. "We have someone!" he called out to Sally. "This one is new."
Grabbing her camera off of the end table at Wufei's elbow, Sally too focused on the door and started snapping away. "Come on... look up," Sally pleaded as she rapidly got picture after picture of the man, but none of them with his face.
"He can't hear you," Wufei said as he watched the man going in without complying with Sally's wish.
Putting her camera down Sally nodded. "Which is a good thing, even if I didn't get a face shot," she said with some disappointment. The first activity they'd had in the last seven hours of staking out the old rundown building and they could not identify him. It was enough to make Sally pull her hair out infrustration. With a Chinese curse spoken under her breath she rapped her nuckles on the table top.
"I got a look at him," Wufei said hearing Sally's curse. He did not like seeing her so dissapointed. She usually kept him from losing his patience at having to wait, so having her become so downcast was not something he would take lying down. "I'll record my description on tape and send it into a sketch artist."
As Wufei started to get up, Sally pushed him back down and sat in his lap. "I have a better idea," she said smiling into his dark eyes that she loved so much.
Leaning in for a kiss, Sally wrapped her arms around him.
Ding-dong!
Jerking up at the sound of the doorbell, Wufei almost sent his partner and fiancée to the floor.
Catching herself, Sally grabbed for her gun from where she kept it behind her back. Looking at Wufei, who also had his gun drawn, the two headed for the door.
Ding-Dong the bell went again, this time accompanied by a woman's "Yoo-hoo!! Anyone home?!"
Recognizing the voice of their new neighbor, Mrs. Drake, Sally sighed and handed her gun to Wufei.
"Get those out of sight, and I'll deal with her," Sally said as she reached the door.
Glad he would not have to deal with the overbearing, noisy, and big mouthed widow, Wufei took the guns to the bedroom.
There was another window in that room where he could go back to watching the building suspected to contain agent Wind. However, Wufei wished that he could be carrying out Sally's "Better idea."
"Hello, Mrs. Drake," Sally greeted the widow with a smile. The older woman was lonely and came bythree or four times a day just to gossip. 'It's almost noon, Widow Drake must be done getting the latest scoop from the hair salon early,' Sally thought as the woman of her thoughts greeted her.
"Oh hello, Sally, dear" Myrtle Drake greeted the young woman as she peeked in and around Sally. "Where's that brother of yours?" she inquired as she managed to push her way in.
Sally stifled a sigh as she tried to be the gracious hostess. "Wufei is out right now. Did you wish to see him?"
Myrtle frowned in disappointment, she had hoped to corner Wufei and fill him in on all of Violet's good points. 'Just as well,' She thought. 'He would have proubly found a way out of it.' "Today I found out that Miss Shermen's niece is coming all the way from L2."
Shaking her bleached blonde head, the forty-seven year old, trying to look twenty, woman went into one of her long-winded gossiping sessions.
"Miss Shermen could never catch a man because she just wasn't very soft on the eyes. But let me tell you, Violet Shermen is one of the most beautiful girls I've ever met. Now she's not just long legs and eyelashes either, she was a straight A student. She moved all the way to L2 because of her work."
Myrtle stopped long enough to get a breath. "I can't quite recall what she does, something about studding space travel, but that doesn't really matter."
The woman was now waving both of her hands frantically back and forth. Sally got ready for Myrtle's exclamation. "She's just perfect for Wufei! I Just know the two would fall head-over-heals in love if I could get the two of them in the same room."
In the four days since Sally and Wufei had moved in posing as half-brother and -sister, Myrtle Drake had been trying to play matchmaker with Wufe. This was the second girl that she had got stuck in her mind would be perfect for Wufei.
Of all of Myrtle Drakes character flaws this was the only one Sally had a hard time being gracious about.
"Now Sally, dear, you've just got to help me!" Myrtle whined as she put a hand on Sally's shoulder. "I know the last one didn't turn out so well but I promise this one will be different. All I need you to do is get that brother of yours to stay in the same room long enough for me to introduce him to Violet."
Before Sally could think of a way to stall Mrs. Drake, she heard a loud crash and Wufei letting out a string of curses.