Chapter Fifteen
They were still discussing about the possible meaning of the code when someone rang the doorbell.
One of the servants went to open the door and found himself literally ran over by a very angry man that, without introducing himself, asked with a thunderous voice:
"Where is your master?".
"Mister Winner is busy at the moment…but if you please wait here I will announce you…if you're kind enough to let me know your name, sir…" replied the servant being as polite as possible not wanting to upset the man even more.
"Tell him that Milliardo Peacecraft is here and I need to see him immediately".
The servant left Milliardo there and, a few minutes later, came back accompanied by Quatre himself.
"Milliardo! You should have told us you were coming…we've found several very worrying things…please, do follow me…" said Quatre for once avoiding the pleasantries, they simply did not have time for these things.
The two men went to the library where everyone else was. Heero, seeing his brother in law, went all tense. He was sure that Milliardo would accuse him of whatever happened to Relena. After all, even if Heero still did not understand much about feelings he knew that Milliardo had not agreed very much with his sister's choice of husband.
In fact, while Milliardo explained that Lady Une had called him the day before and had taken the first shuttle to L4, the man previously known as Zechs, kept staring at Heero with a murderous look in his ice blue eyes.
Quatre, sensing the upcoming fight between the two men, told him about everything they had discovered including the code, hoping that this would distract them, at least temporarily.
"We are quite sure that 'X44' are the first digits of a colony or maybe some kind of satellite. The problem is with this 'independence year'…" explained the Arabian man.
"We don't even know if its from a country or maybe some kind of relevant date…" added Sally.
"What about the company? Maybe it had been incorporated in the past and it had become independent from the parent company…" suggested Duo hoping to be useful...
"I've read all about the company and it has always been an independent company…" said Wufei crushing Duo's hope.
Meanwhile Heero was standing there silently. His brain was racing trying to find an answer to the riddle. The problem is that he was too worried to have any clear ideas. He felt his anger building up again. Even if they figured out what the code meant, that did not mean they would find Relena automatically. They might be following the completely wrong lead. For what it was worth, Relena could have been somewhere else as far away from L4 as it got. Heero thought that they were wasting their time and the thought of Relena being held prisoner in her condition was enough to push him to do whatever it took to get her back. Even to kill again.
Without saying anything to anyone, Heero started walking towards the door. Quatre saw him and tried to stop him.
"Heero…where…" the blond man started saying, but Heero had already left slamming the library's door.
"We better follow him…" said Duo getting up from his chair.
Heero got out of the house and walked towards one of Quatre's limos. The chauffer was standing next to it.
"Give me the keys" asked Heero with such a furious look in his eyes that the driver did not hesitate for a second to comply.
Heero, taking the keys got inside the car just the minute that Quatre and the others appeared in the front door, they started shouting at him to stop. Heero couldn't care less. Starting the car, the Japanese pilot just drove away.
Quatre and the others knew exactly where Heero was heading so Quatre ordered the chauffer to get another car ready for them so they could follow him.
"God knows what he's going to do…" said Sally once the car was in motion.
"Whatever he does, it isn't going to be pretty…I can't believe how long he's lasted…I was expecting him to explode a long time ago…" replied Duo worried about his friend.
Heero parked in front of the entrance. Not even bothering with the receptionist he just got in one of the elevators and hoped he would get to his destination as soon as possible. Ignoring the screaming secretary as well, he opened the heavy door that separated him from his target.
He was sitting behind his desk reading some documents. The man dropped them on his desk and was about to protest when, in a quick move, Heero walked towards the desk and grabbed him by his neck while pulling out a gun.
"Now, you're going to tell me everything you know…and don't even dream of fooling me or I will blow up your miserable head…" Heero said pressing the gun against the man's head.
"You…you came here… yesterday…I… already told Mr Winner…" the man stuttered in total panic.
"I TOLD YOU NOT TO FOOL ME!! IF YOU DON'T START SPITTING ALL YOU KNOW, I'LL KILL YOU!!!" shouted Heero starting to lose his proverbial self control.
"If I were you, I would as he says, you know…he's not very stable mentally speaking…" it was Duo that, accompanied by Quatre, Wufei, Sally and Milliardo, had just got there.
Heero, of course, did not allow Duo's intervention to distract him one bit. Heero ordered him to lock the office's door.
"I WON'T TELL YOU ANYTHING!!!" Genix's director shouted.
Then Heero, without previous warning, fired his gun. The bullet hit just in between the man's legs making a hole in the leather chair. The man started shivering violently.
"Next time I'll fire it here" said the Japanese pilot pressing the gun against the man's throat. The barrel, still hot, burned the man's skin.
Duo and the others just stood there too shocked to do anything. The security staff started banging the door. Wufei feared that, if they moved, Heero would actually shoot him. Duo thought that, even if the man said absolutely everything he knew, Heero would shoot him anyway.
In any case, Genix's director, seriously fearing for his life, started speaking:
"There is a secret base in an abandoned mineral satellite. The satellite's name is X441947. It's a two hours flight north from this colony…" .
"What else…" said Heero pressing the gun further in.
"I don't know anything else…I swear…It's useless…you won't be able to get in it…it's guarded by new model mobile dolls…they're virtually indestructible…".
"If I realise you're lying to us, I will come back and kill you…" said Heero grabbing the man to make him stand up.
Meanwhile, Quatre had gone to the computer to check whether X441947 was indeed a satellite and if the information given by the director was true. It was and Quatre told Heero so.
"Good, now, you'll have to answer to some of their questions…" Heero said throwing the man at Wufei.
"You're accused of holding military information illegally, I'm afraid you'll have to come with us…" Wufei said while handcuffing the man.
"What are you talking about…" asked the director absolutely terrified.
"We're talking about a disk we found yesterday in this premises. It was full of military data…you know that it is illegal to have any kind of weapon or information in how to build weapons in a civilian facility…" explained Sally.
They opened the door and the security staff was about to intervene when Sally, showing them her preventer's ID, said:
"This is a preventer's case, you better stay out of it if you don't want to have problems…".
Duo, Quatre, Heero and Milliardo, followed Wufei and Sally, the Chinese man was literally dragging the director.
"Man…you scared me there…I thought you were going to kill him for real…" Duo said to Heero as soon as they were back in the car. They were heading back to Quatre's house to organise the trip to X441947. Genix's director had been taken in custody by a couple of agents from the preventers' station in L4.
"I wouldn't have…he was the only lead I had to Relena…I'm not that crazy…" Heero replied and then he turned his head to look through the car's window, leaving the other four people exchanging puzzled looks.
Quatre stayed quiet during the entire trip back to his house. As soon as they arrived, the blond Arabian said to everyone:
"I had hoped that I would have never had to tell you but, seeing the circumstances, I think I have no option left…please follow me…".
With this, he headed to the left side of his big mansion. The guys followed him without any comments. It was pretty rare to see Quatre so determinate.
Quatre stopped next to a metallic door with a number pad next to it. He then entered some code and the door opened to show some kind of elevator cabin. Quatre made a gesture as in to ask them in.
"Where are we going?" asked Sally breaking the silence.
"You'll see…" replied Quatre mysteriously.
The short ride came to an end and, as soon as the door opened, they found another one immediately in front of them. Quatre entered yet another code and the door opened to give them access. Inside it was all dark.
Quatre stepped in obviously familiar with the place. He then pressed some buttons that switched the lights on.
What the guys saw left them made their jaws drop. There, standing in perfect formation, Heero, Duo, Sally, Wufei and Milliardo saw five, new, perfectly shiny Gundams.
END OF CHAPTER FIFTEEN