Chapter 15 – Propositions
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"I said, does anyone know her cell phone number?"
Heero looked around, viewing the expressions on the other's faces. They mostly looked surprised, obviously not expecting such a simple answer to their problem. Trowa and Milliardo looked at Hilde expectantly, as though they had come up with the idea.
"I can't believe we didn't think of that sooner," Hilde said sheepishly, her hand raised to cover bright red cheeks. "I'm such an idiot..."
"Don't beat yourself up about it; you've had a hard day," Duo replied consolingly, holding her around the shoulders and giving her an encouraging squeeze.
"If Relena was kidnapped, wouldn't her captors have taken her phone from her? Otherwise she could just use it to call the police, or one of us," Quatre stated, looking confusedly at Heero.
"It's worth a try, isn't it?" Dorothy asked, sitting in the metal chair beside the blonde Arabian. "There isn't much else we can do besides drive wildly around the city, hoping against hope that they haven't left town yet."
"Do you have her number, Milliardo? I only ask because she is your sister…" Heero asked. He had gotten to his feet, as though ready to find Relena himself.
MIlliardo shook is head slowly. "She gave it to me a little while ago, but I see her so often that I haven't had much reason to call her, so I forgot it." He added bitterly, "I should have written it down."
"Don't blame yourself either, Milliardo. We couldn't have known this would happen," Hilde said soothingly.
Trowa gave a slight cough, as though to return attention to him. "Not to nag you," he began, his tone moderately cautious, as though careful not to offend either of the girls, "but Hilde, Dorothy: you two are likely the only ones who would know her number. The sooner we call her, the better our chances of finding her."
"That is, if she still has her cell phone on her," Duo added.
"Right," Dorothy agreed, and set her purse onto her lap, shuffling through its contents. She began removing small scraps of paper, looking at each quickly, hoping (as they all were) that she would spot one with a seven digit number scribbled across it. She tossed the useless papers to Quatre, who was making a small pile of them.
"I know I had it in here somewhere…" she muttered, becoming more desperate as her purse began to empty. Milliardo began to tap his fingers against the back of a chair, as though anxious to get a move on finding his sister. Suddenly Dorothy cried out "Aha! Found it!", causing Quatre to almost upset the (now rather large) pile of papers from surprise. Dorothy held the tiny scrap of paper above her head in a victory pose. Across it was the familiar scrawl of Relena's.
"It's about time," grumbled Milliardo, impatiently pulling the scrap from Dorothy's clutches. "Now we need to find a phone."
"Here, we can use my cell," Hilde offered, holding out the small mobile phone so the others could see. Milliardo read the numbers out slowly, giving Hilde enough time to type the numbers into the petite phone. "All right, let's see if she still has her phone," Hilde said, but a chiding beeping tone poured out of her cell the moment she had pressed Send.
Holding the beeping phone in front of her, Hilde began clicking through the menus, trying to find what the problem was. She groaned, her hand slapping to her forehead. "The battery's dead. I knew I should have charged it last night, but I never expected I'd need to use it so much today."
"What about your phone, Duo?" Quatre asked, finishing helping Dorothy put all her possessions back into her bag.
Duo shook his head. "I left it off at home before you guys picked me up. Sorry."
"Well, now what?" Dorothy asked, closing the clasp on her bag with a definite snap.
"We'll have to use one of the hospital's phones," replied Heero. He grabbed his jacket off the back of a nearby chair, tossing it carelessly over one arm. "Wasn't there a nurse's station nearby? They'll have a phone that we can use."
"Good idea," Duo said, and began walking arm in arm with Hilde towards the station, Hilde still clutching him for consolation and support.
The group walked in silence, the sound of many shoes treading on the tiled floor beneath; the squeak of a still-wet sole breaking the monotony of the proceedings. Turning a corner, the station of Dolores and Agnes' veered into sight, the two nurses completed in reprinting the flyers that had been soaked prior this evening.
Dorothy began to move ahead of the pack, waving energetically to the elderly nurse. "Agnes!" she called out as they approached, Hilde softly explaining beneath her breath to the rest of the group how they had met the two nurses earlier tonight.
The warm, crinkled face of Agnes broke into a wide smile at the sight of Dorothy and Hilde. "Why, hello girls! What are you doing back here so soon? Did you find your friend yet?" she asked, giving Dorothy a pat on the hand, setting the flyers down on the desk. Dolores gave a disgusted sniff, as though upset to have seen the two girls so soon after their last encounter, but too aloof to say otherwise.
"Not yet, Agnes," replied Hilde. "We think we might know how to get hold of her, but my cell phone died before the call could go through."
"Oh, technology today is such a nuisance!" began Agnes, waving her hand dismissively. "Give me an old-fashioned telephone any day of the week."
"That's what we came to ask you about," Milliardo replied, moving closer to the nurse's desk. Duo and Heero moved in on opposite sides, flanking Milliardo.
Dolores suddenly seemed to warm to the group, obviously sighting the abundance of males. "You'd like to make a call?" she asked sweetly, moving to the other side of Agnes, closer to the said abundance. She leaned flirtishly against the counter.
"Yes," replied Heero. "Could I use it please? It's rather urgent."
"Of course you can!" spoke Agnes. "Go right ahead! Now mind you, don't be making any long distance calls." She gave another warm, grandmotherly smile.
"Err – right," he replied, taking the receiver from the now coyly outstretched hand of Dolores. She batted her eyes at Duo, gaining an ill look from a rather menacing-looking Hilde.
"What was her number again?" Heero asked, his finger poised above the number pad.
Milliardo began to read from the paper again, and Heero punched in the numbers. A collective breath was being held by the group. It was almost impossible to hope that Relena's captors had not taken her cellular phone away from her.
It was a great relief (and a great shock) when a slightly tinny voice replied, "Hello, Relena speaking," from the other end of the phone.
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Outside of a small, late-night ice cream parlor, a sleek black limousine pulled up to the drive thru menu. The night was crisp and clean from the rain; the world had been soaked to deeper hues, and the road was slick and shiny with moisture. The driver of the limousine discretely rolled down his window, peering from behind heavy black sunglasses, and glanced over the menu. After few seconds his mind was made up, his face still remaining expressionless. He leaned towards the speaker box, his right hand grasping the edge of the car door for better balance, and recited his order with clarity. A few moments later, he drove to the pick up window, took hold of the ice creams in exchange for a few bills, and set about passing them to each of the passengers in the rear seats. Without so much as a word, he drove away, a small vanilla cone still in hand.
An unusual silence radiated from the vehicle, considering the fact that one of the passengers was a kidnapping victim, and a kidnapped person normally would be shouting his or her head off. However, this victim was far too busy to be worried about such trivial matters as being rescued.
"It's dripping all over the place! You should've brought more napkins, Caden!"
"Pardon me, but I wasn't in a position to be bringing you napkins; Walter was the one who ordered everything!"
"Don't make me waste the ice cream! Give me your napkins!"
"I'm not giving you mine, Relena, so use something else. That, or eat quicker!"
The elder man sitting in the driver's seat, trying in vain to enjoy his vanilla cone, was beginning to tire of the argument in the back. A dull throbbing had started in Walter's left temple ever since picking up the former Queen. His desire to end the bickering was now all-consuming, erasing all traces of self-control shown earlier at the drive-thru window.
He turned to face the squabbling duo in the rear, a small dribble of ice cream still stuck in his thin moustache. "Take my napkins and be done with it!" he shouted, tossing the flimsy serviettes through the dividing window into the back of the vehicle, leaving the vehicle to fend for itself in a lane of heavy traffic. Normally he wouldn't be so reckless, but he was to a point in his day that he stopped caring for his safety and the safety of others.
With the speed of a cat, Relena had moved forward and caught the free-falling napkins, and wiped the side of her cone free of drips. "Thank you, Walter," she chimed sweetly, sticking her tongue out at the younger kidnapper, Caden.
The drive to the ice cream parlor had consisted mainly of a quick bantering back and forth of information; Relena had promised to behave so long as she was told about why she had been kidnapped (and received an ice cream cone), and had been true to her word. Surprisingly, the only sound Relena made was when she had suggested he should get a cone for Caden and himself as well.
It had surprised Walter that she had made sure both of her kidnappers would eat alongside her (and though he'd never admit it, Walter was touched by the small act of kindness). What had shocked Walter the most was that Relena hadn't called for help immediately, which was the standard thing to do when one was in a kidnapped situation. He was beginning to wonder if Relena had an ulterior agenda she was working along. That, or she was incredibly stupid.
"So Merrick just hired you to pick me up and bring me to the airport?" Relena now asked, munching on the top scoop of her Rocky Road ice cream. "You hadn't met him before today?"
Caden, likewise working on his chocolate cone, replied, "He called Walter, his driver, and I just this afternoon. He said to get a hold of you 'by whatever means necessary' and immediately bring you to him, with or without your permission."
Relena nodded thoughtfully, wiping her chin off with a napkin. "So Walter's his limo driver. How do you know him, Caden?"
"I'm –" he began, but was cut off by an abrupt pointed coughing fit coming from Walter. He caught a piercing look from the elder driver via the rear-view mirror, and decided it'd be best to hastily change the subject.
"Never mind," he finished, clearing his throat in a final sort of way. "It isn't important."
Relena looked at him closely, obviously not believing him, but also not pressing the subject further. She nibbled on her ice cream more enthusiastically, yet never taking her eyes off him. Caden was beginning to grow nervous; he felt as though she could see into him, see through his feeble lies, and he was completely unable to stop her.
Finally the awkward tension was broken when Relena spoke up again. "So what was so urgent that I was to be taken 'by whatever means necessary' to Merrick? He could have just asked me and I would have come."
For a moment Caden couldn't understand what she had said. Why would she have allowed herself to be kidnapped to Merrick? Didn't she realize the severity of her situation? Merrick had asked Walter and Caden to remove of Relena to Europe, where he would be waiting to take her as hostage. Relena, Caden supposed, was a close friend and ally of the Gundam pilots, and Merrick wanted to use her as bait to draw them out and be rid of them. Caden didn't really believe that was what Merrick wanted, though; Merrick could have killed the pilots easily enough several times, so why would he create such an elaborate scheme to do the same? Though he wouldn't admit it to Relena, Caden was as clueless about the situation as she was.
"I suppose he was afraid for your safety," Caden lied. "Seeing how there was the large attack at Diamro Field today, I guess Merrick wanted to take you somewhere safe, with or without your permission."
"But it wasn't an outside attack," Relena countered. "It was a rogue pilot within the competition that made the attacks on Samantha."
"Samantha?" Caden was suddenly concerned. "Do you mean Samantha Grey?"
"Yes. Did you know her?" Relena was also intrigued; if Caden knew her, then that gave her more insight into whom he really was.
He nodded gravely. "Samantha and I were close acquaintances, I guess you could say."
"I see." Though she was desperate to ask more questions about how exactly he knew her, Relena bit back the words for the time. There were more pressing matters that she needed to attend to. "Caden," she began, trying to mix sweetness as well as innocence into her tone of voice, "do you know where we're heading? I'd feel better at least knowing where I was being taken to". She did not want to come across as false, but she needed him to want to tell her.
Caden, however, seemed to see no reason why not to tell her. He gave a slight glance towards Walter, but he was focused on driving through the lanes of traffic. Caden leaned in closer to Relena, speaking in a softer tone of voice, "We're heading to Frank Alison airport right now. Merrick wants you to join him over in Europe."
"Where in Europe? Will he be traveling with us?" she asked, hardly able to contain her excitement. She was so close to getting the information she needed to plan her rescue; she would only have to find a way of signaling to the Gundam pilots or the girls as to where she would be.
Caden opened his mouth to respond. "No, he's heading over on a later flight. We'll be going to–" he began, but was cut short by Walter.
"What're you two being so quiet about? Not having another 'escapade' back there, are you? I don't want to have to stop for another ice cream…"
"No, that wasn't it!" Caden responded hurriedly, moving speedily away from Relena. A slight pink tone had entered his cheeks. Relena couldn't help by giggle at him; he seemed to be such a sweet guy.
A jarring ringing tone cut suddenly through the air. Caden, for a moment, was confused as to what exactly was causing the sound, but it appeared Relena knew already. Without hesitating, nor thinking about it, Relena flipped open her petite purse, snatching the jangling cell phone from within it's depths, and answering sweetly, "Hello, Relena speaking."
Caden was stunned. How could he have forgotten to check for a cell phone on her? He had known she had one; after all, it was what Merrick had used to draw her outside the hospital. He was furious at his own stupidity.
"Idiot!" Walter snapped at Caden, breaking him from his inner scorn. "Take it from her quickly!" Walter was panicking at the current situation; he had thrown caution into the wind and turned around, but the sound of blaring car horns informed his interest would be best kept at driving.
Caden immediately lunged at Relena, grasping for the phone, but Relena was too quick. With a graceful arc, her right leg pressed softly into his stomach, stopping him from moving forward. Deftly she covered the mouthpiece, her tone a hushed, angry rasp. "If you cut me off now, the person on the other end will know something is the matter and will come looking for me! If you let me finish this conversation, I promise I won't tell them what's going on!"
Angrily he stared at her, wishing there was a fault in her logic somewhere. But he could see that she was right; disallowing the conversation to continue now would signal that something was wrong with Relena, and the caller would alert proper authorities. His only choice was to hope that she was good to her word, and wouldn't tell what was really happening.
A small smile threatened to reveal itself on Relena's lips. She knew she had won, but she wasn't about to rub it in. Sitting herself back into her regular position, tossing her hair over one shoulder, she cleared her throat and held the phone back to her ear. "Sorry about that," she said embarrassedly, "I just happened to have fallen down and couldn't get back up."
In the seat beside her, Caden groaned, slapping his hand to his forehead. This would not go well.
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"Relena, is that really you?" Heero asked, nearly falling over because of the others around him, scrambling to get close enough to hear what was being said. On the other end, he could hear muffled sounds and a bit of shouting, but it wasn't clear enough to make out what was being said.
A few seconds later and slightly out of breath, Relena responded, feigning a story about falling down. Heero didn't believe it for a second, but he wasn't about to start contradicting her when he didn't know who was at the other end with her. Relena was already in a dangerous position; Heero didn't need to be the one to make it worse.
"Are you all right?" he asked, motioning impatiently towards Milliardo, who was mouthing to ask where she was. Giving a small nod, showing he understood Milliardo, Heero turned his attention back to Relena. There wouldn't be much time.
"Yeah, I'm all right, Heero," he heard her respond. "Just a bruise on my leg, but I'll be fine. Did you get that paper I sent you?"
At first he didn't understand what she meant. Paper? She had never gave him any paper…She must have been trying to signal something to him, but what? He looked to Dorothy and Duo, who were next closest to the phone's receiver, listening attentively, but they didn't seem to understand either. Dorothy pressed her ear even closer against the receiver, pushing it slightly into Heero's own ear.
"What are you talking about, Relena?" he asked, hoping she could somehow explain herself.
"You know; the paper you asked me for. The questionnaire you had to fill out as yes or no, multiple choice? I could help you go over the answers if you'd like."
Suddenly it dawned on him; she was giving him an opportunity to ask questions. Dorothy seemed to understand as well, because she began quietly explaining what was going on to Duo, in turn informing the others. Relena was going to answer all the questions Heero would ask her, but she was disguising her answers so her kidnappers wouldn't catch onto what was happening.
Heero jumped into his questions immediately. "Relena, do you know where you are?"
"No, I'm pretty sure the third answer was B."
"Do you know where you're heading to?"
"Yes, you got that answer right."
"Can you tell me where? Name the continent if you can."
"Answer E."
Dorothy whispered beside him, "That'd be Europe, right?" to which Heero silently nodded yes.
Continuing on, the feeling of running out of time pressing in on him, Heero asked the question they were all wanting to be confirmed: "Was it Merrick who kidnapped you?"
Replying simply, Relena said, "Yes."
Suddenly, Heero heard a second, muffled voice besides Relena's. He could make out some of the words, but nothing that made sense. It was the voice of a man, not very old, but not young either; Heero thought he may be a few years older than Relena. The man was asking Relena to end her conversation with Heero. A short bantering of words ensued before Relena finally returned to the phone. "Sorry, Heero, it's been great talking with you, but I've got to jet off. Say hello to Alice n' Frank for me."
"Who –" Heero tried to reply, but his only response was the sound of her cell phone hanging up. A brief silence swept into the group, its members trying to digest what exactly just happened.
"Who are 'Alice and Frank'?" Duo asked, "I didn't understand what she meant by that."
"Neither did I," Trowa agreed, sitting down in one of the metal chairs. He ran his fingers tiredly through his warm brown hair. Heavy silence followed as each person tried to figure out what was meant by Relena's words. It almost felt as if the stillness had become a palpable entity, pressing in on them as time slipped past.
Alice and Frank, Heero thought. Who do I know with those names? They felt familiar…he was sure he had heard of them somewhere. Perhaps were they participants in the competition? Heero thought not.
"You don't think…" Quatre began slowly, mulling over his words, "…that she meant Frank Alison Airport, do you? She said 'jet' pointedly, didn't she?"
Realization dawning on her, Dorothy replied, "Yeah…she specifically said Alice n' Frank, not Alice and Frank. Alison Frank. Switch it around and its Frank Alison, like the airport."
Milliardo smiled. "She wouldn't have been able to outright say the airport's name; that would have been too obvious." A small chuckled escaped his lips. "Who would have thought Relena was clever enough to disguise so many hints to her whereabouts?"
Heero nodded, "She covered it up by acting as if they were friends of ours."
"Well, what are we waiting for?" Duo asked, enthusiastically slapping his palms together. Time was moving quickly forward, and every minute passing was another closer to losing and clues they had to Relena's whereabouts. "What's the plan? Who's going where with who?"
"I think Heero, Trowa and I should immediately head to FA Airport and try to catch Relena before she gets onto the plane," Milliardo began, looking to Trowa and Heero for agreement. "We may not get there in time to stop her, but we can at least try."
Quatre added, "Dorothy and I can contact the police headquarters in the meantime. There's a chance we can put officials on the lookout for anyone fitting a description of Relena's appearance."
"Good idea, Quatre," Dorothy said earnestly, causing a small blush to rise to Quatre's cheeks. Returning his smile, Dorothy then turned her attention to Hilde. "Will you be all right, seeing how you'll be left alone while we make a few calls?"
Hilde nodded in agreement. "I'll stay in the emergency ward and keep watch over Samantha. If she wakes up, and is in good enough condition, she might be able to give us some insight into watch exactly Merrick wants with Relena."
"So that's that," Milliardo said with finality. "Everyone: get moving."
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The entryway to Frank Alison Airport was crowded and stuffy, nearly overflowing with late-night travelers going to and leaving from flights. Dozens of people were armed with drying umbrellas and folded rain ponchos, obviously waiting for flights since before the rain began. Others were toting wet hair and damp clothing, nearly dried in the warm air of the terminal. Excited chattering escaped from a group of teens nearby awaiting a flight, while there were more than a few people silent with exhaustion and readiness to go home. Relena couldn't help but be interested in her surroundings; she had been trapped within a limousine with two men for well over an hour, and was pleased to be out in the open again.
Much to Relena's distaste, she wore a yellow, plastic rain poncho with the hood pulled up over her head. 'Blissfully'(according to Walter), rain had broken out again as they prepared to leave the limousine, and so he had insisted she put on the poncho in order to hide her identity a bit, and without fuss she had agreed. Inwardly she believed the neon yellow made her stick out like a sore thumb, but she wasn't about to start playing the role of 'clever' with these men.
Caden walked to the left of Relena, his right arm lightly around her shoulders as his left gently clutched her left upper arm, appearing to others to be a friendly embrace, while Walter walked to her right and slightly behind, watching her every move. Relena knew Caden's mind was on finding and steering her to where their jet was taking off from, while it was Walter's job to watch her and make sure she didn't try anything suspicious. Normally she would be upset with such close contact, but she was surprisingly relaxed about Caden's nearness, and far too happy about being free from the limo to complain.
She flirted with the idea of simply running, escaping through the crowd and to freedom. She knew Walter wouldn't have the speed or strength to catch her, but she was less certain about Caden; he had obvious agility and quick reflexes (she recalled how quick he moved within the cramped area of the limo) and would most certainly swiftly overpower her. Then again, he couldn't do much to her if while she was running she screamed "Help! they're trying to kidnap me!"…
But before she could even think of running, Caden and Walter came upon two other people standing just ahead of them. One was a suited brown male, roughly mid-thirties, his hairless cranium immaculate and cold eyes staring attentively forward. He gave no sign of recognition of Relena or the others as they approached. The second was a pale female, about thirty, her black hair sleek and very long with bangs cropped to frame her face. Her eyes were bright green, and she wore an old-fashioned, military-styled cap and leather jacket. She gave Relena a quick smile and nod as she approached. Caden nudged Relena and whispered in her ear. "These two will help escort you to your flight."
"What! You're not coming with me!" she accidentally blurted out, looking at Caden with both surprise and embarrassment. Her cheeks flushed red at her outburst. Caden turned a pale shade of pink as well, but he smiled at her reassuringly.
The female smiled, releasing a small laugh. "Sorry, girl, but the man has business to attend to before he can hop over to England with us. Hello Walter, Caden." Her voice contained a hint of a foreign accent that was different from Merrick's own accent, and Relena was caught off guard by how kind and mirthful the raven-haired girl sounded.
Caden released his hold on Relena, and for a fleeting moment she wished he hadn't taken away the warmth of his arm on her shoulders. She glanced at him as he moved nearer to the woman and her silent companion, and noticed that the woman had extended her hand to her. Relena hastily extended her own hand as well, where it was shook in an enthusiastic manner.
"The name is Angelique," the raven-haired woman chimed, tipping back her military cap. "This gentleman here -" she gestured with her thumb to the black man beside her "- is Roland." Relena glanced at the man, who gave a slight nod of recognition before returning to his forward stare.
"I assume you are Relena Peacecraft, unless, of course, you happen to be an imposter…" Angelique gave a mock suspicious glance over Relena, startling Relena enough for a giggle to escape her lips. "Didn't think so," the older woman said coyly.
She slapped her palms together with finality. "Well now, I suppose we best be heading off. Don't want to be late for our flight." She winked at Caden. "I suggest you give your girl a goodbye kiss before she needs to run off, Caden."
Caden blushed crimson. "Really, Angelique, that wasn't necessary."
"Of course not, darling; anything that is necessary certainly can't be all that fun."
Caden shrugged towards Relena. "Well?"
"I don't know," Relena began slowly, a smile teasing at her mouth, "After what happened in the limo…"
"What? What happened in the limo?"
"Angelique!"
"Tell me, Caden. I really need to keep up on your romance life."
Caden laughed and stepped towards Relena, placed his hands gently on either of her upper arms, and gave her a quick kiss on the cheek. "There. Happy, Angelique?"
"Well, I'm not nearly as pleased as she is with it, but I'll say I'm content."
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A/N: Sorry for such a long delay in updates. I realize it has been months since the last chapter, but I wanted to get something up for anyone still reading the story. I'm currently debating with myself as to whether or not I should take the story down, edit, and resubmit it; now that I look back on my two-years ago writing style, it doesn't feel like it matches with what I have now. I believe I will eventually resubmit this story once I have time to focus of revamping the story.
Thank you to anyone still sticking with the story through such long periods of comatose
Kiwii