Here you go! The next chapter of Syaoran's Angels! I will not update again until I have 15 more reviews (yes, I'm making it more than usual). THANK YOU! THANK YOU! Thank for all the wonderful reviews you have given me! I appreciate it very much!
Syaoran's Angels
Chapter 7: Caution: Angels at work
"Who is Rika?"
Damn it
"Umm..." Sakura began trying to stall for time whilst she tried to think up of a convincing lie.
Meiling blinked at the man staring behind Sakura and looked at her friend.
"Who is he?" she murmured softly.
"Father," Sakura replied just as quietly.
"Oh."
"Who's Rika?" Fujitaka repeated again.
"Umm... it's a school," Sakura said hurriedly.
"A school?"
"Yeah, R.I.K.A. it stands for Russian Institute of Korean Architecture," Sakura grinned at him as she mentally kicked herself for coming up with such a stupid name.
"Korean Architecture? Why would the school by in Russia?"
There was a pause of Meiling and Sakura looked at each other.
"It used to be in Korea but there wasn't enough students but there were a lot of interests in Korean Architecture in Russia so the school moved," Meiling said quickly.
Fujitaka nodded.
"What a strange school... I've never heard of it," he mused.
"Yeah, it is very isolated from other schools and very selective," Meiling added.
Fujitaka nodded as Sakura turned to Meiling.
"What happened?" she asked staring at Meiling pointedly.
"Oh yeah, some R.I.K.A. students came to my house and wants to change the decoration so it can have a Korean theme but luckily I escaped," Meiling replied veiling her answer behind a lie, "So can I stay here until I'm sure that R.I.K.A. is gone?"
"Rika came to your house?" Sakura blanched.
Meiling nodded.
"Umm... dad I have to go over to my friend's house for a little while," Sakura told him, "Is that okay with you?"
"Sakura you're a big girl now you don't have to check with me," Fujitaka answered with a small smile, "Have fun."
Sakura flashed him a fake grin and grabbed her keys before leaving her apartment with Meiling. She closed the door behind her and they began walking down to her apartment's garage.
"Tomoyo," she whispered.
Meiling nodded.
"We have to get to her before Rika does."
Sakura fished out her mobile phone, as Meiling remained silent lost in her own thoughts. She punched a series of numbers in and waited.
"Tomoyo?"
'Yeah?' Tomoyo sounded like she had just woken up, 'Do you have any idea what time it is?'
"Sorry but Rika is on the loose. She tried to take out Meiling before."
'Is she okay?' Tomoyo asked worried.
"Yeah, she's with me. Listen Tomoyo stay alert we're coming over to your house then we'll decide what to do."
'Okay, be careful.'
"You too."
Tomoyo hung up as Sakura slipped the phone back into her pocket and turned to Meiling.
"She knows."
"Good, and after we get we'll start working on a plan to take down Rika."
"No, we got other things to deal with."
"What?"
"The second book."
Meiling gaped at her. Sakura smiled as they reached the garage.
"Let's roll."
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An hour later, Tomoyo sat down onto Sakura's couch as Meiling leaned back against one of the walls frowning. Sakura opened the guest room door slightly and saw that her father was sleeping, his glasses lying on the table beside the bed. She smiled and closed the door.
"He's asleep," she announced.
"Rika. How did she get out of jail?" Meiling growled.
Tomoyo didn't answer her instead she plugged her laptop into the power socket. The computer genius immediately got to work hacking away at the police files. Five minutes she had an answer.
"Rika was apparently released from jail and admitted into a mental asylum," Tomoyo read, "She was released just a few hours ago."
"She escaped," Sakura murmured.
"Or the mental asylum never existed, it could have been just one big lie made up by Spinnel Corporation."
The girls were silent as they digested that piece of information. Tomoyo began typing again and after a few tense minutes she sighed.
"The mental asylum Rika was supposedly sent to doesn't exist. It's a fake."
Meiling gritted her teeth.
"Just how powerful is Spinnel Corporation?" she demanded, "They must have bribed at least a dozen officials to get Rika out."
There was a few minutes of silence then Tomoyo spoke again.
"Sakura, what do you know about the second book?" she asked.
Sakura looked nervously at the closed guest door and lowered her voice as she slipped the photo out from her pocket. She threw it onto the table in front of Tomoyo and explained as the lavender-haired Angel examined the picture.
"That is a photo from my dad's latest archaeological dig. I don't know where it is from and my dad has orders from the government not to tell," she explained as Tomoyo passed the photo to Meiling.
"The book of Hong Bao Shi Hu Die," Meiling murmured, "The book of the Ruby Butterfly."
"Why don't you tell your dad what's going on?" Tomoyo suggested.
"NO!" Sakura glanced at the door and lowered her voice, "No. I can't. My dad doesn't know I'm an Angel."
"WHAT?"
Sakura glared at them and they lowered their voice.
"You have to," Meiling urged her, "He'll find out anyway."
"Sakura. We do need to know where the book is."
"I'm sorry... I just can't," Sakura said miserably.
Meiling and Tomoyo exchanged looks as Sakura fidgeted nervously.
"I'm sorry," she repeated again.
"Doesn't matter," Meiling handed the photo back to her, "We'll report in to Syaoran tomorrow and we'll think of something then."
"I guess the both of you will be staying here?"
Tomoyo and Meiling nodded.
"I'll find somewhere for you to sleep," Sakura said as Tomoyo got up.
The three Angels spent a sleepless night. Meiling's dreams were plagued by a clawed shadow menace that attacked her repeatedly within her dreams and no matter what she did the clawed shadow always defeated her.
Sakura tossed and turned worrying over how her dad would react to finding out she was an Angel and worried her friends thought she was a coward for not telling him.
And Tomoyo's dreams were filled with a certain blue-haired gentleman...
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"Good morning Angels," Syaoran said over the speaker box.
"Good morning Syaoran," Tomoyo said cheerfully.
"Morning," Meiling and Sakura muttered.
"What's wrong?" Syaoran asked concern.
"Rika, she's back and she tried to attack me in my home," Meiling spat.
"Rika is out of jail? Spinnel Corporation must have some very powerful connections then," Syaoran went silent, "girls I want you to be extremely careful and alert. I'll have a look in that situation but what I really want to..."
"I know where the second book is," Sakura said suddenly.
There was a slight pause.
"You do?" Syaoran asked.
"Not really. My dad is an archaeologist and I found a photo of the second book amongst other photos of things he find at his latest dig," Sakura explained.
"Can you find out where the dig is?"
"No," Sakura admitted reluctantly, "My dad has orders from the government not to tell but he doesn't know I'm an Angel..."
"Shouldn't you tell him? He does have a right to know."
Sakura remained silent as Tomoyo and Meiling patted her knees sympathetically, they smiled at her showing her that they supported her. Sakura smiled back at them and felt comforted by the fact that the girls would stand by her no matter what.
"You have made your decision, very well. But please try to find out," Syaoran stopped, "What I really want to tell you girls is that you have a new mission."
"A mission?" Meiling blinked.
"Where?"
"When?"
The wooden panels on the walls slid down revealing a large TV screen, the girls quietened down as pictures began appearing.
"This is Marcus Faron," Syaoran announced as a picture of a man appeared onto the screen, "he was a lawyer and used to work for Crell's Partners, a law firm in Boston."
"Crell's..." Tomoyo murmured, "Wasn't that the law firm that was sued for corruption?"
"Corruption?" Sakura asked.
"Yeah, their lawyers usually represented criminal leaders and gang members. They were apparently ruthless, threatening their rival lawyers and bribing and blackmailing the juries and judges. About a year ago they were busted and the firm was sued," Tomoyo explained.
"Yes, that is what happened and Marcus was the one who exposed his law firm's crimes," Syaoran told them girls, "Ever since then Marcus has been the target of many assassinations attempts. It came to the point that Marcus and his daughter had to enter the Witness Protection Program and was sent off to Australia. A few weeks ago, his daughter was kidnapped and held for ransom. The money is to be delivered in a few days time on the Gold Coast in Australia."
"Gold Coast?" Sakura's ear pricked up, "Ooo... beaches."
Meiling grinned at her as Tomoyo rolled her eyes.
"This is not holiday Angels, this is serious. There seems to be no apparent motive behind the kidnapping but I believe it is just one giant ploy to lure Marcus out of hiding and kill him. Your mission is to make sure the daughter gets back to Marcus safely and they both survive."
"Seems easy enough," Meiling said confidently.
"And it gets us out of Rika's way for a few days," Tomoyo said thoughtfully.
Sakura nodded.
"Yeah and I've got an excuse not to go to my reunion..." Sakura smiled nervously as both Meiling and Tomoyo stared at her.
"You've got a school reunion?" Meiling demanded.
"That's cool!" Tomoyo squealed.
Sakura fidgeted uncomfortably.
"But I don't want to go..." she began.
"You have to," Meiling told her, "This is your chance to upstage all those blonde airhead cheerleaders who tormented you through school and make them look bad."
"Angels," Syaoran interrupted, "You will leave tonight for Australia. Once you're there you'll meet one of my spies. His name is Derrick. He will tell you the precise location of where the exchange is being made. You got that?"
"Yes, Syaoran," the girls chorused.
"Very well then. Goodbye Angels."
"Goodbye!"
The speaker box turned off as the wooden panels slid up to hide the TV screen. Sakura wished she could disappear as well as both her friends turned on her.
"Come on Sakura. You have to go, it will be fun for you."
"But... but... but..."
"But what?" Meiling demanded.
"Iwasatotalgeekatschool!"
Tomoyo blinked as she slowly deciphered Sakura's sentence.
"You were a geek?"
"Yes! A total klutz and a teacher's pet! I was the most unpopular girl at school!" Sakura blurted out.
"Well, then you have even more reasons to go then," Tomoyo smiled in satisfaction.
Sakura stared at her.
"What?"
"Oh come on Sakura. You may have been a klutz then but now you're a kick-ass fighter with a body to die for!" Meiling scoffed, "This is your one big chance to show your old classmates how much you've changed."
Sakura stopped and thought about it for a moment.
"You're right. I'm going!"
Sakura grinned devilishly and imagined with relish the stunned looks she would receive when she showed them how much she'd changed.
This is going to fun!
But there was still the pesky problem of not having a boyfriend...
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Meiling stretched wearily wincing as all the stiff muscles in her body protested again her movements.
"Ouch and ouch," she groaned.
Tomoyo did up her hair into a ponytail as the harsh Australian sun beat down onto the Angels through the windows of the airport.
"I'm looking forward to having a tan," she mused as Sakura echoed the same sentiments.
"So where is this Derrick?" Meiling asked getting down to business.
The Angels blinked at each other and looked around seeing the giant hive of activity that surrounded them. It was impossible to find anyone is this giant crowd.
"Oh boy..." Sakura muttered.
Tomoyo looked around carefully before turning back to one of the girls.
"Do we have any idea what Derrick look like?"
The Angels stared at each other.
"Just great... just great..." Meiling growled.
"Angels?" a strange voice asked behind them.
The three girls whirled around to stare at the newcomer. He was slightly taller than Meiling with pale blue eyes the colour of the afternoon sky. He has a pleasant smile on his face as he ran his hair through his blonde-brown hair subtly showing off his muscular arms. The Angels stared at him as he moved towards them.
"Hi, I'm Derrick and you must be the Angels," he said holding his hand out in front of him.
"Hello Derrick. Nice to meet you," Tomoyo said politely clasping his hand lightly.
Sakura and Meiling made similar gestures of greeting before getting down to business.
"So where is the exchange going to take place?" Meiling asked hefting her bags onto her shoulders.
"And when?" Sakura asked.
Derrick grinned at them amusement dancing in his eyes.
"All work and no play make Angels dull girls?" he laughed, his voice was warm and musical, "The exchange is to take place later tonight giving you a chance to stakeout that place beforehand."
"Is this place isolated?" Tomoyo asked.
Derrick nodded.
Tomoyo snorted.
"Typical..." she muttered.
The Angels plus Derrick continued to make their way through the bustling crowd as they discussed the events leading up to this point. Derrick had revealed that several threats had been made again Marcus Flaron prior to his daughter's kidnapping. She had been missing for around a month now and a tape had been sent to Marcus giving him instructions on what to do if he wanted to get his daughter back.
"You have to get her back," Derrick told them looking at them with his pale blue eyes, "She's only five years old and she is probably terrified."
Meiling smiled grimly.
"We'll deal with them."
Sakura and Tomoyo nodded silently as they seethed inwardly at anybody who dared harm an innocent little girl. Meiling smiled devilishly and thought with relish of what she would do to those kidnappers. Derrick nodded and continued talking.
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
Tomoyo and Sakura sat in a battered old van parked across the street from the gloomy warehouse in which the exchange was to take place. Tomoyo carefully studied the abandoned building with her binoculars looking for any windows or doors. Sakura took note of their surroundings, which was a narrow strip of road bordered by two rows of old and dilapidated warehouses. One warehouse was little more than a blacken shell ravaged by fire, Sakura shuddered seeing the black skeletal structure of the building and turned her eyes up to the roofs of the warehouses.
"Those roofs would be a good place to set up a sniper," Sakura murmured.
Tomoyo nodded as she put down her binoculars.
"I don't like this, this place is a trap," she told Sakura.
Sakura nodded agreeing with her partner. This whole block of warehouses was built over the sparling sapphire ocean on a giant wooden pier. Even as they spoke the Australian sun beat down onto the area casting eerie shadows all over the lonely streets and warehouses.
"This is creepy..." Sakura murmured, "Like a ghost town or something."
Tomoyo nodded.
"Derrick was right this is isolated."
Sakura remained silent lost in her thoughts.
"Hey," she said suddenly, "This has been bugging me all morning, I have this strange feeling I've seen Derrick around somewhere."
Tomoyo turned to stare at Sakura.
"Seen Derrick somewhere?" she echoed, "Are you sure? I'm pretty sure we've never met him before."
Sakura shrugged feeling sheepish.
"I don't know just a feeling it's probably nothing."
Meiling casually strolled out of the warehouse closely followed by Derrick. Spotting them she walked towards the van as Tomoyo rolled down the window.
"What's it like?" Tomoyo asked.
Meiling looked at them, ruby eyes worried.
"A death trap. There's these wooden crates everywhere, perfect for hidden people and the pier this whole place is built on? One good explosion would send this whole block of warehouses tumbling into the sea," Meiling said grimly.
Derrick nodded.
"I have a bad feeling about this as well," he added.
Sakura studied the warehouse and felt the hairs on the back of her neck rise. There was this vibe of wrongness practically radiating out from this warehouse. This place was trouble she just knew it.
"Should we take out the kidnappers before Marcus Flareon gets here or after?" she asked.
Tomoyo exchanged looks with Meiling.
"If the girl is there, we'll take them out before if not we'll wait and see," Tomoyo decided.
Meiling nodded agreeing with the plan.
"We'll just see how this goes," she said grimly.
The Angels fell silent as they looked at the warehouse once more. Meiling felt furious against the kidnappers for daring to harm an innocent little girl, she scrunched up her fist and resisted the urge to punch the van.
Tomoyo studied Meiling's face and empathised with her friend, her lavender eyes turned a steely grey as she gritted her teeth. Sakura was sneaking glances at Derrick wondering where she had seen him before. She knew she had seen him somewhere before, she was sure of it.
But where?
Her gut told her something was wrong.
Derrick caught her looking at him and grinned at her flirtatiously
Sakura resolved to keep a careful eye on Derrick.
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
In the darkness of the van, four numbers, two letters and two dots glowed brightly as the owner of the watch looked at it for perhaps the thousandth time.
22:58pm
Another minute passed.
22:59pm
Time seemed to come to a grinding halt as each second went by slowly.
22:59:58pm
22:59:59pm
23:00pm
Finally...
Tomoyo carefully opened the door to the van and slipped out her black clothing immediately blending into the night.
"Meiling, Sakura move to your positions," Tomoyo said into the mini-microphone that dangled down from the headphones she wore, "Its Showtime!"
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
Perched on top of one of the roofs next to the warehouse, Meiling revved up her motorbike engine in anticipation.
Sakura stood in front of the backdoor of the warehouse and waited clenching and unclenching her fist.
'It's Showtime!'
The Angels moved as one.
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
"Here we go!" Meiling yelled yanking down the visor of her helmet.
She let out a fierce warcry and gunned the engine. She raced across the roof surface and smiled seeing the edge of the roof come racing towards her.
"OH YEAH!" she cried as she shot over the edge.
She aimed her bike down and grinned devilishly seeing the rooftop window. With a resounding crash, the bike punched through the machine as Meiling clung on. Seeing the ground rush towards her, Meiling let go of the motorbike.
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
Sakura kicked open the door and walked in keeping her senses alert readying herself for an attack.
Nothing.
She blinked but shrugged before racing down the dimly lit hallway and coming into the main room of the warehouse.
Above her the skylight shattered.
AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA
Tomoyo cautiously opened the front door half expecting someone to start yelling and shooting. Hearing nothing, she slipped in carefully closing the door behind her.
Tomoyo studied the main room of the warehouse and smiled seeing Sakura was already there.
The sound of smashing glass followed.
Meiling let go of her motorbike and leapt off. The bike hit the ground followed by a shower of jagged shards of glass. Meiling landed onto the ground expertly bending her knees to absorb the pressure.
She stood up and turned to see both Sakura and Tomoyo had already arrived. Meiling's dramatic entrance was designed to distract their enemies as Sakura and Tomoyo attacked but she stopped seeing the warehouse was empty.
"What the?" she gasped.
She glanced around the room and blinked in surprise seeing a piece of canvas lying in the middle of the room.
"Careful," Tomoyo called studying the room with her lavender eyes.
Sakura felt the hair on the back of her neck raise again as she growled under her breath.
"Trap," she murmured.
Meiling walked up to the canvas and frowned seeing something was lying under it. Kneeling down she gingerly uncovered the canvas and paled seeing what was underneath it.
"Oh my..." she gasped.
Sakura and Tomoyo ran to her side instantly as Meiling peeled back the canvas. Derrick's blank glassy eyes stared up at them, his mouth opened in a small circle of shock as Meiling grimaced seeing the giant bullet hole in his chest.
"The enemy find him," Tomoyo murmured, "Damn it."
"No, it can't be," Sakura knelt down and studied the body closely, "the blood is already dry, this body has been dead for a day or more."
She stopped realising the meaning of her words. She studied him closer and saw the differences from the Derrick they had seen. This man lying dead on the ground was shorter and had emerald eyes instead of blue. His hair was also lighter.
"But we saw Derrick this morning..." Tomoyo began.
"Van. Now!" Meiling yelled realising this was a trap.
All three Angels sprinted out of the warehouse and scrambled into the van. Tomoyo jammed the keys into the keyhole and started the engine.
"What's that sound?" Sakura murmured.
They fell silent as they listened carefully.
"Thwup! Thwup! Thwup!" the sound was getting louder.
"What the hell?" Meiling growled.
All the girls winced as light flooded the area, the sound got louder as Tomoyo looked outside.
"Helicopter!" she yelled.
Sakura and Meiling looked to the right up into the night sky and saw the source of the sound and light.
A black helicopter hovered just above the pier, its spotlight glaring right at them.
"What the hell?" Meiling swore violently.
Tomoyo and Sakura glanced at each other with worried eyes.
"No need for the swearing," a familiar voice murmured.
They turned to their left and stared at the warehouse or more precisely the man standing in front of the warehouse.
"Derrick?" Sakura murmured seeing the pale blue-eyed man, "bu... but... how?"
"Derrick!? Aren't you dead?" Meiling demanded trying to figure out what was going on.
"Please girls, call me by my real name," 'Derrick' said with a smirk on his face.
"Call me Hayden."
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CLIFFHANGER!! The real Derrick was killed before the Angels arrived in Australia and Hayden from Spinnel's Corporation disguised himself as Derrick to lure them into a trap! How are the Angels going to get out of this one? What will happen?
Next chapter:
The Angels have been cornered by the archenemies, Spinnel Corporation and there seems to be no way out. How will they defeat the combined power of Hayden and Lilia and still rescue Marcus Flaron and his daughter? Find out the next in... Showdown
A/Note: Thank you once again for your reviews and for everybody who joined the competition and did the right thing in e-mailing me. THANKS! Some of the winners have been decided but I may have more winners maybe up to 6 or more. Maybe...
Anyway, thanks to Corrine for your constructive criticism. My French is not perfect but you have pointed out my mistakes possibly helping me past my next French test at school! Thank you! And thanks to all my wonderful reviewers! Please keeping reviewing!
