Disclaimer: I do not Final Fantasy VIII … no, not even in the stock market. Leave me alone.
Chapter Twenty-Four"We're going to invade the agency right now." Rinoa was through with exasperation and was ready for revenge, "I don't care if you don't think we should right away, I'm going alone if I have to."
"We're not ready. The training hasn't been covered and even if it were through there would be no guarantees. We're not going to go and get ourselves killed." Caraway intervened whilst smoking his pipe thoughtfully.
Rinoa snatched it from him, "Listen old man, this isn't the Wal-Mart reimbursement counter! My kids are in some strange place with strange people that want to kill them and their entire family. I'm not just going to let that one run by."
"Ackroyde is using them as bait! Are you blind?" Caraway snapped at her, "You will fall into his trap just like he wants you to and when you are in the bind then he will crush you and will kill your children before your very eyes! Is that what you want?"
"That won't happen!" Rinoa screamed back at him defiantly and then she turned to Zell, "Whatever he's paying you I'll triple it if you can just get me past the 21st floor."
"We can't afford that Rinoa, that would be three million dollars." Squall interjected as lightly as the situation allowed.
"Three million!" Rinoa repeated incredulously,
"Three-fucking-MILLION!" She turned to
her father, "Quite the negotiator aren't you?
God, you're so stupid."
"It seems to run in the family." Caraway retorted, "Zell, pack your equipment
in the van, we're going to the agency.
There, happy?" He looked back at his daughter.
She literally jumped in his arms and hugged him, "Thank you so much." She whispered, "Thanks … dad."
"Yes well …" Caraway cleared his throat, "Don't let anyone get the impression that we actually get along, that would ruin our reputations entirely."
"Right, sorry." Rinoa redeemed herself. Both hid a smile.
***
"The base floors one to nine should be a breeze through for you guys. We've all been in that building and all there is on the first few floors is big marble halls that impress the visitors, mainly government associates." Zell had made a better-looking chart of the agency floors. "However, floor ten through twenty might be a little bit scary because that's where Ackroyde trains his goons. That means there's goin' to be lots of kung-fu doing on these floors, good?" He paused and pointed to the third sector of his map, "Security center … very, very dangerous. Probably Alex and Riana are being held there since it's top notch there. No one gets passed unless they're authorized. Don't just think of taking the elevator. There's a laser check just passed the 20th floor and it scans for authorization Ids. So, guess who'll be climbing some steps that haven't been used in over a hundred years?"
"Skip the crap." Rinoa warned, "Or I'll do something painful to you."
Zell cleared his throat uncomfortably, "Well, on the 25th floor … there are the offices. Pretty girls in short skirts scamper around and prance and this wonderful scenario goes up until the 39th floor." Squall smirked at the sector between floors 25 to 39. Rinoa glared at him … his eyes lost their hopeful expression. Flirting had been judged to be out of the question.
"Is that it?" Rinoa asked, Zell shrugged and nodded his
answer, "Beautiful, we set off now."
"Now?" Zell repeated a little unsure.
"Now."
"But …"
"NOW!"
"Yes ma'am." Zell whimpered, frightened.
The preparations were made quickly without hesitation. Weapons were loaded and equipped, checked and graded. Zell's precious computers were charged, and delicately set up in the van so they could always be of instant use. Besides that … skill was the only thing they could count on. Not even Hyne could follow them now.
***
The agency was a towering skyscraper. Its façade was of beautiful, white marble. The front doors were rotating with golden frames and handle bars that you pushed to make it glide on its axis. To the naked eye, the building looked like a vault to heaven. Rinoa knew that it was the very essence of Hell, the most sinister of places to be caught in … especially if you were the enemy.
They parked a block away in the business district of Deling city. Many people were on the street, they crowded the sidewalks, going in and out of desired amusement places, bars, boutiques, cinemas and the odd restaurant. The more people that were out, the more homeless hung piteously around, holding their hats upside down and hoping for a gil or two from those who had much to spare.
Streetlights glimmered in the never sleeping city; couples walked hand in hand, itinerants begged, drunkards raved. Everything was as it should be in the streets of Deling. No one saw the four figures, slink their way into the dirty alleys, stealthily heading west towards the mysteriously striking white building. No one knew of what went on there and of what purpose it was. They assumed it to be a government building, a luxurious palace of congressmen that talked and counseled with each other on how to screw the working people. Tax hikes and whatnot. Their assumptions were close … and yet so far from the real thing.
Squall pushed through the entrance and looked around. Nothing had changed. There were still those cushioned benches, enveloped in red velvet for the waiting parties. The clock with golden, ticking hands still read the time, set to the precise second. Stan was still sleeping in his security cubicle, over a cup of black coffee and a box of doughnuts. "Stan." Squall called out, "Stan!"
The chubby security guard jerked away and looked about for the culprit who had wakened him. As he saw Agent Leonheart, his eyes widened, "What-what're you doing here?"
"How're the wife and kids?" Squall asked casually, temporarily ignoring the fear that was written against his old acquaintance's face.
"They're-they're … ok." The larger man stuttered his speech and took in quick, shallow breaths of air. Should he ring the rest of security? That was what he was assigned to do, but this was Squall Leonheart, an old friend with a charming wife and cute kids.
"Well, that's nice. Because my wife's in hysterics and my kids are upstairs." Squall informed with an even voice.
"Upstairs where?" Stan gaped slightly.
"Upstairs here." Squall
answered, "Do me a favor … I don't want to hurt you, friend." He slipped three identification cards on the
marble counter and waited while Stan examined them, "Most likely four out of
four of those cards have been deactivated.
Reactivate them in the central security computer.
"I can't do that." Stan gave Squall the cards back.
Squall bit his lip, "Then I'll have to do it myself. Sorry, friend." A swift knock to the nape of the man's neck knocked him out cold; Squall entered the cubicle and pushed away Stan. "What am I supposed to do?" Squall spoke into a little microphone on the cuff of his jacket sleeve.
A short half hour later, the identity cards could be swiped and recognized by the central computer. "You guys can take the elevator up to the fifteenth floor." Zell's voice cackled in Squall's earpiece, "Rinoa, Caraway and Julia … you guys can go in now."
"Why only the 15th floor?" Squall seemed disappointed. All that computer talk for half an hour and the pressure weighing on him that he may get caught. And the reward was a trip in an elevator to the 15th floor of a forty-story building?
"Your cards are recognized by the central computer, that means it doesn't think that you guys are foreign. But that doesn't mean that it approves of your presence. The high tech security system that starts on the 20th floor sends the alarm ringing if it doesn't pick up approved cards. Christ man, you should know that."
"So why can't we go up till the 19th floor and get off there?" Squall asked and he saw Rinoa, Julia and Caraway enter through the doors.
"Because I only found one way of reaching the stairs on the fifteenth floor."
"Three million dollars." Squall rolled his eyes, "You're worth .5% of that."
"Thanks, always nice to know I'm appreciated." Zell cut off connection.
"Great, he's pissed at me." Squall groaned, informing the newcomers.
"What is this, The Jerry Springer Show?" Rinoa asked in a very annoyed fashion, "I don't give a crap! Let's get this over with!" Rinoa walked past the security desk and pressed the 'Up' button that drew the elevator down to the main floor. The silver doors swung open revealing a beautiful elevator.
Rinoa pressed the floor fifteen and held the doors until everyone was in. The doors glided back into place and the four people felt the slight gravitation shift. They were dinged on the fifteenth floor and the doors opened. They stepped out and Zell cackled from the van a block away in their ears, "Right." He directed.
Unlucky as they were, they walked right into Jennifer, the secretary of a secretary. "Squall? Rinoa?" She dropped her folders as she stood to gape at them both, remembering the strict Ackroyde had given the employees about them.
"You scream and I'll rip out your vocal cords and fulfill a longtime fantasy of mine." Rinoa hissed a threat through clenched teeth. Jennifer whimpered with fear clouding her pretty eyes, "There are stairs on this floor, since our technician is upset at us you will lead us to them."
"But I don't know what-"
"Bullshit." Rinoa cut off abruptly. Squall stood back with Caraway and Julia, letting Rinoa handle this one. Their heads would have probably been blown off had they tried to intervene. "Now go!"
Jennifer's long strides seemed longer and faster as she practically ran for the door that was hidden among the floor. She led them through deserted hallways in between large gyms that held over a hundred trainees each. Their luck improved; they met no one.
"There is no handle on the door and you have to pull it out. Since it has an automatic shut motion you can't get it open from here. Don't ask me how because I have no clue."
"Fucking blondes." Rinoa snapped at her.
"Keep your bitch on a leash!" Jennifer screeched at Squall who stood by indifferently. "Whatever, you guys are all going to die!" And she tried to run back down the hallway but Squall grabbed her forearm tightly, "Stop … you're … hurting me!"
"Sound the alarm and you'll join us." He warned, his cold
blue eyes boring into hers, "Do you understand?"
She wrenched free, giving him one last glare and ran down the opposite
way. "How're we supposed to open this
'door'?" Julia felt the edges of the
camouflaged door.
"Ventilation system." Caraway answered and he kneeled down a vent and gripped its edges. He ripped off the iron grid and signaled to his daughter, "You're the only one who'll fit in this."
"I thought I was chunky and slow." She declared, referring to the events of the previous day. Though when he rolled his eyes and signaled the vent once more she kneeled down a crawled in. It was tight but she fit. The cool metal of the vent pressed on her hands and knees and soon the vent shot up. She stood up and reached for the top of the tunnel. She gripped on hard and hoisted herself while muttering, "Giving birth to two kids … I'm too old for this."
She followed the tunnel that stood horizontal now. Finally, she peered down a vent and saw stairs. Kicking the grid, Rinoa jumped down and rolled down a few steps as a landing, "Ass-wrenching pain." She mumbled and rubbed her shoulder. There was a white door, she knocked on it.
"Rinoa?" The voice was muffled through the insulin and the wall.
"Yeah." She pushed the door hard, it was stuck. It just wouldn't open!
"Rinoa, are you ok?"
Squall asked from the other side, moving in towards the door.
"This goddamn thing won't open!" She body-slammed it and it jerked open,
smashing Squall in the face, "Oh, shit!
I'm so sorry!" She touched his
arm, "Did I break your nose?"
"No … but close." Squall rubbed his
nose and his cheekbones, "Let's go."
They took steps two at a time and tried to contact Zell, "Where's the next door? What floor are we at? Zell, come on, I'm sorry! Answer, damn it! Oh come off it already! Where the Hell are you?"
There was only static to be heard.
Sabam: Any guesses to where Zell could be? Traitor or not? Hm, that ought to give you something to ponder about until the next update. Please, please, please review. If I don't get enough feedback this may be my last story as with Written In The Sky.