Chapter Six
Heero gripped the steering wheel tightly; knuckles white as the owner of the vehicle in the seat beside him, begging him to take better care of his precious jaguar. Heero ignored the man, too lost in his own thoughts.
Heero eyes widened before narrowing into a glare, gripping the telephone tightly as he growled out, "I thought you were dead."
The man on the other side of the line chuckled. Heero looked up, glancing around with murderous eyes to look for his prey. Somehow, he had a gut feeling that the bastard was somewhere near.
"Did you really think I would go down so easily?"
Now it was Heero's turn to retort, "Yes."
The man growled, "You shut up and listen." Heero had a feeling that there was even more to come, sensing the man's evil smirk through his tainted and malicious words.
Heero glanced down and saw a car phone and grabbed it, "I need you to do me a favor—call this number; 454 678 9087—now!"
The man jumped at the harsh tone, snapped out of his momentary shock, and grabbed phone in a hurry and punched the numbers in as fast as he could without dialing the wrong number.
"Thanks," Heero mumbled and took the phone from the frightened man's hands. He knew that the man was still casting nervous glances at the gun located in the holster, holding a silent and deadly unheard threat. However, despite that silent presence, the man found it in himself to relax and enjoy the fast-paced ride.
At least the Preventer had good driving skills and had avoided all cars as of yet.
"So," he looked at the teen waiting as the phone rang, "How old are you?" the man didn't even look at least eighteen!
"Fifteen." Heero snapped as he glared at the road, driving with ease with one hand. He avoided another collision with a stopped car that happened to be in the way towards his destination.
"F-fifteen?" He thought he heard the passenger stutter with a shocked look in wide eyes. Now, he was sure, the manfeared for his life since he knew how old he was. Vaugely, Heero wondered what the age limit for teenagers to drive was now. He didn't really care since he had a special license for working with the Preventers. "Hey--you--"The man was still talking, but Heero ignored him once more, too lost in the previous activities of the day.
"You took what was mine—I worked and planned that elevator job for so long—ten long years—and you go around and screw with my life savings!"
Heero all but growled though clenched teeth, "You didn't earn that money!"
"Oh," the man corrected with a sneer and condensending tone, "I certainly did—after so long you earn what you get in life and I have certainly worked for that million!"
"Why are you doing this?" G's melted and burned body flashed in his mind, "Why couldn't you have gone after me!"
"Because, this isn't about you," the man growled in a dangerously crazy tone, "this is about me! It always has been, ever since the start!" The man panted from seeping anger on the other line before collecting himself.
"What do you want?"
"To get my money. There is a bus, and it has a bomb on it." Heero's blood went cold, running like liquid ice through his veins—people, innocent people like G, flashed through his mind, charred and disfigured beyond belief.
"Are you paying attention, Heero? Heero!" The man's impatience crept into his voice and Heero glared at the receiver, anything that happened to be in his eyesight.
"Yes, I'm listening." He all but growled at the man.
On the other side of the connection, the man smirked, "Good." He paused, "Now, once the bus reaches fifty miles per hour, the bomb is set. Then, when it goes below fifty," he paused once more, "It blows up." Heero blood ran like ice through his veins.
There was a silence over the line, making the crazy man wonder if Heero was listening or not. "I want ten million—it started out as six, but because you've caused me so much trouble I had to raise the price."
"You bastard…" Heero clenched his fists so tightly that he felt his nails digging into the fleshy part of his palm.
The man chuckled, "You're so vocal, just like your friend." He tapped the receiver, making Heero glare at the momentary static, "Now, what are you going to do, Heero?"
He took a deep breath to calm himself, a cool and emotionless mask slipping onto his features, "I'd want to know what bus the bomb was on."
"Uh –uh!" The man reprimanded, "That's against the rules. The deadline for the money is eleven o'clock."
"There's not enough time to pull that kind of money."
The man growled on the other line this time, "Focus, Heero!" He taunted, "Your concern is the passengers, not the money!"
"What's the bus number?" Heero knew it was just a game—a deadly game the man was playing with people as pawns, just like himself.
"It's 2525, going—" the phone was already out of his hands, dropped as he made a dash as fast as he could to his jeep. He hopped in and revved the engine, speeding off with an image of the city's map in his head.
"Heero?" the person on the other line said, clearing his throat from the grogginess, "You'd better not be calling in sick today just 'cause of all those drinks 'cause I dragged my ass out of bed—"
"He's back." Heero snapped, interrupting Duo's rant.
His eyes remained focussed on the road, keeping an eye on the bus that had broken free from the traffic jam. He hit the pedal even harder, pushing the car past seventy as he dodged cars from left to right and so forth.
On the other side of the line, at the Preventer's office, Duo jerked to attention, eyes looking more awake and alive then before. "What?"
"The bomber—he's back."
Duo frowned, eyebrows knit together in confusion—"How? He died in that explosion—"
"Duo," Zechs interrupted, walking into the office with a stern aura around him. "There's been a bus—exploded. Luckily, it was only the driver and not a lot of passengers. Sadly, there's almost nothing left, not even a body. We've gotten a ransom note that says that your dead bomber wants ten mill." He looked around, eyeing the empty desk.
"Where's Heero?"
Duo sighed and rolled his eyes, "Where do you think?"
TBC
Author's note: Thanks to everyone for the great reviews! I hope that you enjoyed this chapter! Lif, this one's been updated for you since I'm surprised that you've even bothered to read one of my stories (no shock you chose this one XD). I hope everyone's enjoyed this chapter--sorry for the long pause in updates. Homecoming is this weekend (today actually) but the parade is cancelled, so I figured that I'd update.
Love, Red Tail