Who Is The Enemy?
"Where's Quatre today?" Relena asked as she tapped her fingers on her desk with a worried look on her face. "He's twenty minutes late for our meeting and it's not like him at all. I mean he would have called ahead if he were running late and one of the servants would have given him the heads up if he'd slept in."
"I don't know. He left the party early and he didn't mention anything important happening today so I can't imagine he got held up somewhere..and you're right, he would have called if he got stuck in traffic or something." Heero said getting more then a little worried himself. Quatre was usually so punctual and this was the first time he could ever remember Quatre being late for anything without a heads up.
"Did he say anything to any of you guys about possibly being late? Did he seem distracted or worried about something last night?" Relena asked looking down the table and was greeted by No's and shaken heads.
"I just called his house and according to the maid he never came home last night." Sally said as she walked into the room with a worried look on her face as she took her seat, everyone feeling the same way. The maid had sounded really worried too on the phone and it wasn't like Quatre to go off anywhere without telling some one first. "Maybe he had to stay at a hotel for some reason and slept in or lost his cell phone?"
"What time did he leave the party, Heero?" Noin said with a worried frown, wishing now that she'd stayed at the party. It sounded like Quatre might have gotten in trouble and there was certainly no limit to the amount of possible problems.
"I don't know. I last saw him around nine-twenty but then I last track of him in the crowds and then I had to give that speech after dinner so... When I asked around after that no one had seen him and so I just assumed he'd left early." Heero said with an angry glare at the door as if it was all its fault that Quatre wasn't in the room. Where the Hell was he?
"Does anyone remember seeing Quatre after that?" Relena said as she struggled to remember the last time she'd seen their friend.
)
"Mrs. Yuy. We've just been informed that Mr. Winner is on his way up and is perfectly fine according to the secretary who phoned in." Darius announce after opening the meeting room door, sticking his head through the opening, smiling at the look of relief that took over everyone's faces before closing the door behind him since he hadn't been invited to this particular meeting.
"Thanks, Darius." Noin said smiling at him with relief as the door closed behind her assistant. Everyone relaxed now, they all leaned back in their chairs and five minutes later were rewarded with a sheepish Quatre walking through the door.
"Sorry I'm late everybody. I lost track of time and didn't realize how late it was." Quatre said as he sheepishly grinned at them with a sorry look in his eyes. "I didn't have my cell phone on me either until I got home and by then I was in such a rush to get changed and here I kinda forgot to grab a cell phone so that I could call you while I was in the car."
"That's okay, Quatre but where have you been? We called the house but the maid said you hadn't been home all night." Relena said raising an eyebrow in his direction, obviously curious. "Did you fall asleep in your car or at the McLasters?"
"Yea, ah well..I.. it's a really long story, not all that interesting." Quatre said, doing his best to keep his grin at a little grin instead of the full blown one he'd woken with that had had his staff looking at him funny the whole time he'd been in his house getting ready for work and trying to eat something while he was at it.
"But I thought you left the party at around nine, Quatre." Heero said looking closely at his friend now that his instincts were kicking in to full throttle. Something was different about Quatre today but he couldn't put his finger on it just yet. "That's really not that late."
"I did but I went to visit an old friend afterwards and we stayed up late getting reacquainted since it had been a while." Quatre said struggling to hide a grin that threatened to surface as mental images surfaced with his words. Duo was on his back about girls enough as it was without him getting suspicious about who his friend from last night was.
"Well it's always nice to see old friends, did you have a nice time? " Relena said smiling at the happiness on Quatre's face. Obviously Quatre had had fun with his friends because she'd never seen him this revved up without at least one pot of coffee in his system along with a lot of sugary donuts.
"I had a great time, Relena now enough about me, lets get cracking shall we" What's this meeting about Duo and where's Trowa? I thought he was getting in today? Was his flight delayed or something?"
"I didn't tell him about the meeting. I wanted to talk to you guys first without him." Duo said gravely as he tried to think of how to put this. He'd been trying to figure out how to tell everyone since he'd heard the conversation that had been recorded.
"Why wouldn't you want Trowa in on this, Duo." Heero asked not liking the look on Duo's face. It was far too serious for the guy. "What's up?"
)
"Well I'll explain that in a minute. First there's something you need to see. Last night I sent one of my best men to tail Relena because I thought that maybe Eve would show like she did at the park since one of our theories was that she's been tailing Relena. She did and my man ran into her..literally." Duo said with a sigh as he shook his head recalling exactly how his man had looked after he'd met with the hell cat.
"Did your man get her?" Milliardo said not really hopeful on this. "He didn't huh?" Milliardo commented, reading Duo's face easily enough.
"He met up with her but no, he didn't catch her by any stretch of the word. He's currently in the Med Wing being put back together again." Duo said with an angry look, his hands fisting at his sides and wishing it was the bitch's neck. Partly he was angry at himself though for sending the soldier out but his majority of his thoughts were concentrated on Eve who would be paying real soon.
"How badly is he hurt? Are you sure it was Eve who did this? Perhaps it was the people who attacked us at the park, there could have been more of them." Quatre said with concern, as he absently chewed on the bottom of his lip. He and Eve had been together for a large portion of last night after all. Maybe she hadn't done it, Quatre thought grasping that ray of hope with both hands. The thought that she'd done this..didn't sit well.
"Let's just say he resembles a squashed bug right about now and his face is so swollen and bashed I couldn't even recognize him. Anyway the main thing is that the glasses he was wearing were out fitted with small cameras and so we could see her in action and also hear who she's working with." Duo said with a shake of his head, squashing Quatre's hopes. "It's her, no question."
"Well let's see this tape then ." Noin said as she leaned forward in her seat. Finally a break through though she wished a soldier hadn't had to get his ass kicked to get it.
"The glasses were knocked off his face during their fight but the audio still picked up what you'll need to hear." Duo said as he slipped the tape he'd watched over and over again since he'd got it. He wasn't looking forward to watching it again.
)
Everyone watched as they saw Duo's soldier following Relena and as Duo said Eve finally came into the picture though they were only brief glimpses since she was more then good at what she was doing. Keeping track of her movements was dizzying and Heero was pretty impressed thinking she'd be near impossible to follow anywhere unless she wanted you to. They all struggled with watching her weave in and out of view and then one at a time they noticed that there was another man following Relena. One who wasn't nearly as skilled as Eve at keeping out of sight. Or perhaps he just didn't feel he needed to make the effort.
"We haven't been able to identify him yet but I've got some drones doing some scans to try and find out." Duo stated before anyone asked as he watched them comprehend that Relena had had more then one person to worry about last night. Turning back to the screen they watched the unidentified man follow Relena with Eve coming into sight every so often, being less careful to hide herself suggesting that it was deliberate. Then she disappeared completely from sight and it was only the one man following cautiously behind Relena. Then a few minutes later they watched a slender and pale hand reach out and pull the unidentified man into an alley. Seconds later Eve walked out of it. The other man did not. Pretty much everyone wasn't surprised when Duo's soldier went into the alley and they saw the unidentified man lying in a pile of discarded trash, his neck obviously broken, his eyes staring up at them blindly. "We sent soldiers to retrieve the body this morning but it was already gone, no mention of any one else retrieving him so odds are people he worked with came and scooped him up before we could." Duo added quietly.
"Well at least we know he wasn't working for Eve or her employers. Odds are then that either he works for the same people that attacked Relena and the rest in the park or he double crossed our girl and pissed her off enough that she took him out. Permanently." Milliardo said thoughtfully as he tapped a finger again his cheek. The man was fairly large and muscular, she must be very strong to have been able to snap his neck like that. And cool headed.
After leaving the alleyway their soldier continued on but there was no sign of Eve. When Relena successfully arrived at her destination the soldier turned back and headed for the side door so that he could monitor from the inside. Muttering under his breath he was suddenly kicked from behind. Landing with a thud that jarred the camera he quickly turned around to see Eve standing behind him, her eyes glowing hauntingly in the darkness.
The following is from the tape they're viewing
"I would have expected better from one of their top operatives." Eve said with a saucy smile as she stared at the soldier threatening. It was too dark for him to make out her appearance well but her eyes would give her identity away. She'd warned Heero what would happen if he sent soldiers, he obviously needed to be reminded. "But I guess that was just too much to ask."
"Freeze." The soldier said reaching for his gun only to find it missing.
"Looking for this? I removed it quite a while ago, I hope you don't mind but I was worried you might accidentally shoot someone with it." Eve said dangling his gun before him mockingly before throwing it into a dumpster. "If you haven't already guessed I've been aware of your presence the entire time you've been following Relena. I simple saw no reason to let you know it till you'd seen the other man shadowing your precious princess. What I'm capable of doing."
"Any drug dealer on these streets is capable of killing a man for his pocket change. you'll forgive me if I don't quiver with fear over one dead body." The soldier said bravely as he stood up hoping his larger size would intimidate her. It didn't.
"Oh I don't think so. You know I made it quite clear I wouldn't stand for their interference but obviously you boys were too thick headed to get it. I think I'll use you as a reminder to them that underestimating me is always a big mistake. Sending you was an even bigger one. But if you ask really nicely I'll kill you before I start to work on you." Eve said with a smile he couldn't see. Of course she wouldn't but he didn't need to know that.
"You wouldn't dare." The soldier said glaring at her. Damn if he'd give her the satisfaction of knowing that she scared the hell out of him.
"Your choice." Eve said and with that shot her left leg forward, shooting it up with deadly accuracy into his face. Head snapping back from the blow he fell to the ground, the glasses flying off to land nearby facing a brick wall.
Back to meeting room
Duo froze the image and turned back to his viewers. "After this we have only sound and a nice view of a brick wall."
"How badly was the soldier hurt, Duo." Relena said looking at the frozen image before her. To think that Eve had been following her and was capable of this was chilling.
"He'll be fine, Relena. Despite what she threatened to do she only broke a couple of bones and rearranged his face a little." Duo said comfortingly, coming over to pat her on the shoulder. "My guess would be she just wanted to scare the hell out of him and get her point across."
"Let's watch the rest." Milliardo said leaning back in his chair. Nodding Duo picked up the controls and unfroze the tape. Though they could see only a wall they could hear everything and what they heard shocked the hell out of them.
Back to tape
After several minutes of roughing the soldier up Eve spoke again. "Well if that doesn't get my point across nothing will. Well besides crucifying you to the ground and letting you bleed to death that is."
"He's still alive?"
Meeting room.
"That's....that's Trowa's voice!" Quatre said as shock drained what color was left in his face. He'd know the sound of his best friend's voice anywhere.
Tape
"Where did you come from?" Eve asked.
"I heard the racket coming from back here and figured I'd make sure you were all right if you were a part of the noise. Why did you leave him alive? That's not your style as I recall." Trowa said with his curiosity plain. "Because he's young or are you getting soft on me?"
"He's one of Maxwell's soldiers. You said I was suppose to leave those guys alone if possible." Eve said with an annoyed tone, not liking the word soft and her in the same sentence. Being soft got you hurt or worse. "If you want me to kill him I will though. He was rather annoying, the way he was whimpering like a girl towards the end. They really don't make soldiers like they use to."
"How easy was he to take out? Knowing my luck that was one of their best." Trowa said with a sigh as he tipped the soldier onto his back, leaning down to position the guy's head so that if he started to cough up blood he wouldn't choke on it.
"Well I'll give him points for keeping up with me and having the guts to look me in the eye. Other then that there's nothing positive to say about him really. Then again he's that braided baka's stooge so I'm not really surprised. You Preventers really need to take lessons on the arts of following people not to mention kicking ass. I mean every Preventer soldier I've met up against other then you has been pretty sad and provided little entertainment. If war broke out now the government would once again get their asses thoroughly kicked."
"Well I'll be sure to pass that along to my superiors." Trowa said with a hint of amusement in his voice as he shook his head at Eve, not at all surprised by her anymore. "Everything going all right here? Any idea why I was called away from my nice, warm bed to come back here? On my first vacation this year."
"Well several of your friends are borderline on my I'm going to kill them when this is over list but other then that everything's fine. I don't know why you were called in though, we've been busting our asses trying to find out but so far we haven't gotten anything. Maybe they've realized what a joke their security is and decided to call in someone who would actually know what he was doing."
)
"Some how I doubt that's it, Eve. Are you done for the night? I saw Peters follow Relena in so she's covered. I haven't eaten anything but plane food today so I could use a bite, I'll buy.."
"Love to but unfortunately I have to head over to that stupid masquerade ball the McLasters' are holding in an hour. Apparently some guy or guys might be wanting to use your best friend for target practice so I have to be there to save him if my sources are right and they usually are. Why they're after him though is beyond me. I thought we just had to worry about the two princesses but now it seems Quatre might be on their hit list too. Any ideas why?"
"Quatre?" Trowa asked in surprise, frowning at the thought. "I can't think of any good reason why the son of a bitch would be interested him..well other then Quatre's politics of course. I'll put out the word for any information on it, see what I can find."
"Sounds good to me. Anyway I should be going now so I can change. Having to change my look enough so that I can fit in with a bunch of boring politicians and their over dressed wives is never an easy task. Hopefully they'll try for Quatre early on in the evening so that I can kill them and go to bed. Even an hour in those damn heels is going to be torture."
"I told Keyda to keep you away from Quatre." Trowa said in an aggravated voice though he mumbled most of it. Unfortunately for Trowa Eve had had her ears enhanced along with the rest of her senses..
"Now why would you do that?" Eve wanted to know then practically purred when it crossed her mind what the answer was very likely to be. "So you don't want me around him? Hmm worried about him, Silencer?"
"What the Hell was she thinking?" Trowa said more to himself then to her. "What part about keeping you away from Duo and Quatre did she not understand."
)
"Are you worried I'll go after him? Quatre I mean. Worried I'll try to catch him in my seductive web and corrupt him? As for Duo I've taken to avoiding him, the need to kill him is always so strong after being in his company for mere minutes" Eve asked in an amused voice.
"Shut up, Eve." Was his tense response.
"Well he is gorgeous."
"Eve."
"And he's got a great ass."
"Eve, stop it right now or else."
"And he has such a cute dimple."
"Eve, what do you call a blonde with a brain? A golden retriever."
"What did you just say?" Eve said with a hint of anger with a possibility of rage seeping in.
"What do you call a blonde with two brain cells? Pregnant."
"You tell one more dumb blonde joke and you're a dead man, Barton."
"What's the biggest similarity between a blonde and a beer bottle? They're both empty from the neck up."
"All right, now you're going to die." Eve hissed and there was the sound of running feet and then nothing but the broken breathing of the unconscious soldier.