Chapter Thirteen
Heero and Duo were arriving to the hospital when their car almost crashed against a van. Duo thought that he really ought to be more careful. He was going to apologise to the driver but the van drove passed them without even stopping. Duo chose to forget about it, they had other problems now.
Heero was too worried about getting to Relena so he didn't seem to pay much attention to the whole incident.
"See, her car is still here…she's fine…" said Duo seeing Relena's official car parked almost in front of the hospital.
"We'll see about that…" replied Heero stepping out of the car even before it had come to a complete halt.
Duo, parking the car quickly, followed him, he knew from experience that Heero waited for no one. Although the Japanese man had changed a good deal since the end of the wars, he still was as determined as ever when he set himself to do something.
They passed by the receptionist's desk almost running. The girl at the desk started shouting at them and seeing that the two men wouldn't stop, she went back to her workstation to call security.
Duo and Heero had almost made it to the obstetrics ward when a familiar voice, coming from behind, stopped them both.
"Heero? What are you doing here? I've been trying to call you…Relena…" started Wufei's wife sounding very worried.
"Have you seen her?" asked Heero turning around to face a very concerned Sally.
"Yes, well, it was a few minutes ago, her doctor and a couple of nurses were taking her somewhere with a wheelchair…Heero, she was unconscious…When I asked what was wrong with her, the doctor said she had fainted during the scan and were taking her to a different, more appropriate, examination room…that's why I was trying to call you but the school receptionist told me that neither you nor Duo were there…" explained Sally.
"Were her bodyguards with her?" asked Heero.
"…oh no! No! They weren't…I should have noticed it!!" replied Sally realising the huge mistake she had made.
With not time to add anything else, Heero started running to the room where they made the scans. Thank goodness he had been there before so he found it rather easily.
If Heero's instincts had been in full alert before, now, inside his brain an emergency alarm rang so loud he almost couldn't hear his own thoughts. He felt his heartbeat increase, his breathing was quickening so much he feared he would collapse. All he wanted to see was Relena safe.
Heero, followed by Duo and a very worried Sally, opened the room's door. They found both bodyguards lying on the floor, one next to the other, unconscious.
Sally ran next to them immediately. She checked their vital signs and was relieved to see that they both were alive. Using the room's phone, the American-Chinese doctor called for security and for some medical assistance.
"I'm so stupid! I should have seen that something was wrong…now that I think it over, the doctor did seem in a rush to get away…of course I thought that he was only worried about Relena and he wanted to get to the examination room as soon as possible…" said Sally sounding very upset.
"What did you just say?" asked Heero almost shouting.
"What?" asked Sally confused.
"You said 'he was worried', didn't you?" asked Heero.
"Yes…why?" enquired Sally.
Heero let out a very nasty swearing word.
"Relena's doctor is a woman…is actually the same doctor that takes care of Hilde…" replied Duo speaking for the first time in all that time. Duo was now beginning to see that Heero had been right about his instincts…Only God knew how Heero would react now.
The Japanese man grabbed the phone and dialled the number for the reception.
"Can I speak to Dr Newman?" asked Heero making a visible effort to stay calm. He waited for a reply and then he added, "Fine. Thanks…".
Without saying anything to anyone, Heero left the room running. Duo, before following his partner out of the room, said to Sally:
"You stay here and wait for security…I will make sure Heero doesn't kill anyone…".
Sally could have smiled…Duo, even in these kind of situations, still managed to keep his sense of humour.
They found Dr Newman's office and, opening the door, they found the same scene than earlier.
Dr Newman was sitting on her chair as unconscious as Relena's bodyguards. Heero felt almost hysterical. He cursed himself for not being able to stay focused with anything that had to do with Relena and try to force himself to stay calm. Duo called the reception so they would also send someone from the security staff and a doctor.
They were heading back to where Sally was when Duo stopped suddenly and almost shouted:
"Fuck! The van! Why haven't thought of it before?!".
"What are you saying?" asked Heero confused.
"The van…the one I almost crashed into earlier…I thought it was going too fast…normally, vehicles go fast when going to a hospital, not when leaving it…" explained Duo.
"Let's go and find it…" said Heero leaving the room.
"Heero, we don't even know the plate's number, where do you suggest we should start looking for it?" said Duo following him.
"The number is L4 987 DHJ" replied Heero.
"What the…Heero, you didn't even see the thing for more than two seconds…how?..." said Duo surprised beyond measure.
"It's difficult to get rid of some habits…it was part of Dr J's training: always observe and memorise what is around you…also I found rather odd that a van from L4 was here on Earth…" explained Heero leaving behind a speechless Duo.
'This guy is never going to stop shocking me…' thought the American man following the Japanese one.
Meanwhile Sally, after ordering security to perform a full check in the hospital, had headed to the nearest videocom, this needed the Preventers immediate attention so, Sally had decided to call Lady Une.
"Hello Sally…" began to say the Preventers chief but, seeing the doctor's grim face, she changed her tone of voice and her expression and asked "What's wrong?".
"I think Relena's been kidnapped…" said Sally not wanting to waste time uselessly.
"What? I'm on my way…I'll be there in half an hour…Sally I want a full report as soon as I get there, call your partner as well…and, does Heero Yuy know?" asked Lady Une.
"Ok for the report, I will call Wufei immediately and yes, Heero Yuy knows, he's here with Duo Maxwell…" replied Sally used to her superior's habit of asking more than one question at the same time and the fact that the ex-colonel expected a reply to all of them.
"Fine…like I said, I'll see you in half an hour…" Lady Une said closing the conversation.
When she turned around, she saw Duo and Heero walking towards her.
"I've called Lady Une, she's coming here as we speak…I'm also going to contact Wufei now and the security staff is running a full check in the hospital…I hope we'll find something or…maybe, with a bit of luck, Dr Newman or Relena's bodyguards will be able to tell us something…" said Sally as soon as the two young men had reached her.
"When Heero and I were coming here, we saw a van leaving in a hurry the hospital's car park…don't ask how but Heero has memorised its number plate so we are now going to check on it…" explained Duo.
"We're going to need a computer with access to the worldwide database…" said Heero.
"I'll take you both to the hospital's main computer room…" replied Sally, with her job as a preventer, the woman had access to every room of the hospital.
A few minutes later, Heero started working with the computer while Sally was calling Wufei. Duo called the school to tell the receptionist to close the school for the rest of the day and ask the staff to take the day off including herself. He also asked her to call Hilde to tell her that something had come up and he couldn't go home for lunch. Duo did not want to call her himself because she would see that something was wrong and he did not want her to get worried in her condition…After this, Duo went to help Heero with the research.
From the number plate, they found out that the van was indeed from L4. It had been rented there by someone called Maurice Louvin. Heero had even hacked the car hire company's database and had got Mr Louvin's credit card number.
By the time Lady Une and Wufei had joined them in the computer room, Heero, Duo and Sally had found out that the holder of the credit card used to pay for the rental was Genix, a very famous company that operated in the genetic engineering field. They had been the first company to produce genetically modified crops in the colonies.
They had also found out that the van had been registered as cargo in a private shuttle flight from L4 to New Port City's airport. Lady Une called the airport authorities and requested them to check all L4 flights. Lady Une gave them all details concerning the van. She asked to be contacted the minute they had something to tell her.
Duo, every now and then, checked on Heero. To everyone, the Japanese man seemed to be coping with everything quite well. Duo, knowing Heero better than anyone else, not counting Relena, of course, knew that it was all a façade. Heero was probably on the verge of a nervous breakdown. Unless they found Relena safe and sound shortly, Heero would explode. If that were to happen, Duo preferred to be anywhere else but near him. The American man could not blame him though, Duo would make feel very sorry anyone that did as much as to lay a finger on Hilde…
Lady Une was starting to think of an action plan when the videocom buzzed. Sally went to answer it. She had a brief conversation with the caller. Closing the communication, she turned around and said:
"Bad news…it looks like someone has spotted the van we are looking for…it was inside a shuttle that left the airport about 25 minutes ago…they've been trying to get in touch with the shuttle but they're not getting any reply…it's not even on their radars anymore…it seems it has vanished…".
Lady Une just stared at Sally while thinking carefully what to do next. Then she said:
"Ok…Wufei and Sally, you're going to go to L4 to check Genix's facilities. I will be sending you a search warrant as soon as I can. Heero, I guess that asking you to stay behind will be useless so you may join Wufei and Sally…whereas me, I will stay here to interrogate the witnesses…I want everyone to report the minute they find something, is that clear?" Lady Une said.
"What about me?" asked Duo feeling left out.
Lady Une looked at the braided man for a second.
"You can do whatever you want…" the ex-colonel replied.
"Ok then…Let's go to L4…" said Duo not thinking twice.
END OF CHAPTER THIRTEEN
A/N: Sorry for the delay! My social life is getting crazy…have too many parties to go to and tones of Xmas shopping to do! Arghh!! Don't even have a second to sit down and write! Anyway, thanks for your reviews and for the time you spend reading this…I'm so happy !