Chapter 6

"What's wrong, Duo?"

"Nothing."

Heero frowned. He rolled onto his side and propped his head up on his arm as he looked at his partner. Duo was lying on his back with his hands under his head as he stared at the ceiling of their tent. Heero hadn't missed how distracted Duo had been when they left the others. Since they were technically on duty they hadn't done anything more than a little making out when they reached the privacy of their own tent, but Heero knew something was bothering Duo, regardless of what he said.

"You're distracted."

"I am not," Duo insisted.

Heero sighed. "Duo…I know you. What's bothering you?"

Duo didn't answer right away. Heero was about to let it drop when Duo said quietly, "I was so mean to her."

Heero frowned, but didn't say anything, knowing that Duo would elaborate if he felt like it.

"I was mean to her because…because at first I thought she was dead an' Quat had to convince me she wasn't. And then when she didn't come with us…I thought she was just being a pain. I mean, Quat said she was scared of us but…I didn't know she was hurt, too. I mean, I knew about the bruises but not her back. I thought…" Duo sighed. "I was just being an ass."

Duo rolled onto his side with his back to Heero. He didn't know how he was going to make it up to the girl. She probably hated him now and with good reason.

Heero slid over and wrapped an arm around his lover, nuzzling his nose into Duo's neck. "It'll be okay. You'll find a way to apologize, I'm sure."

"You don't get it, 'Ro. I actually yelled at her for not jumping up and coming with us. I'm no better than the dick that beat her."

"Duo…don't think that. It was partly my fault. If I hadn't yelled at you, you wouldn't have been in such a bad mood to begin with. And I never want to hear you compare yourself to that asshole again. You couldn't be like that if you tried. You're too good for that."

Duo let himself smile as his boyfriend spooned him. "Love you 'Ro."

"I love you, too, Duo. Try to get some sleep. We have a busy day tomorrow."

Duo snuggled into Heero's arms and let himself sleep.

Trowa stared into the darkness. His eyes had adjusted hours ago, but there wasn't much to look at in the tent. He should be asleep. Quatre and Wufei had fallen asleep about two hours ago but Trowa just couldn't manage it. After the day he'd had he should have been exhausted. He let his mind wander, trying to figure out what was keeping him awake, and his thoughts turned to the girl.

She was still asleep, though she wasn't sleeping peacefully. She kept shifting. Trowa figured her body was trying to get comfortable and between the bandages on her back and the make-shift splint on her leg, he understood why she was unsuccessful. He watched her roll onto her side with her back to him. The blanket slid off of her as she moved and he silently covered her back up.

He lay back and put his arms under his head as he stared at the ceiling. He wondered if she would be willing to talk to them in the morning. He didn't need Quatre to tell him that she was terrified of them. It made him wonder how long she'd been a prisoner here.

The girl shifted again, this time trying to move onto her back, but she bumped into Trowa instead. Her body went rigid and she let out a pained hiss.

Trowa rolled onto his side and whispered, "Shhhh…relax. It won't hurt as much."

Trowa watched as she curled up, her erratic breathing giving away her terror in the darkness. Trowa frowned. Had he done something? Was she afraid of the dark or maybe just being in the dark with him? Trowa sat up and reached into his pack for a flashlight. He aimed it at the ground as he turned it on so as not to accidentally blind her. He waited a second for his eyes to adjust. She stayed in her trembling ball of fear.

"Hey, it's okay," Trowa whispered. "You're safe now. No one will hurt you but if you're not careful, you'll undo your bandages."

The girl didn't respond and Trowa didn't push it. He wanted her to know she was safe and trying to force her to trust him would backfire. He watched as she slowly uncurled, but didn't relax.

Trowa decided to try again. Leaning close to her he whispered, "You can sleep. I promise you'll be safe."

The girl jumped and, faster than Trowa thought was possible for her, she rolled onto her stomach and forced herself to stand up. Trowa could tell it was painful for her and she almost lost her balance as she wrapped the blanket securely around her naked torso. She eyed him warily. He silently berated himself. He should have known she would be jumpy.

Trowa sat up slowly and adjusted the flashlight so that they could see each other better, but was careful not to blind her. He wondered if Quatre would pick up on her fear in his sleep and glanced to the other side of the tent. Neither former pilot had moved a muscle, so he felt confident that they were still asleep. A glance at the girl's face as she followed his gaze confirmed his suspicion that she was afraid of waking them up. She started to shake and her lip quivered slightly as she looked back at Trowa. He was careful to keep his expression neutral as he climbed out of his sleeping bag.

"Use my sleeping bag. It's warmer." He reached out and gently touched her arm, not reacting when she flinched. He waited a second before reaching out again and touching her elbow. He enjoyed a silent victory as she didn't flinch this time. "You'll be warmer inside the bag," he insisted gently as he put a small amount of pressure on her elbow, guiding her towards his sleeping bag.

The girl slowly responded and took the few steps to his bag. She slowly sank to the ground, her eyes never leaving him as if afraid he would try something as soon as her back was turned. Trowa made sure to zip her up inside the bag before reaching for the blanket that was still wrapped around her shoulders. It was a bit chilly and he didn't have another spare blanket. He made a show of wrapping himself into the blanket and turning his back to her so she would know he wasn't going to bother her. He didn't sleep right away but listened with satisfaction as her breathing evened out and she slept peacefully. After an hour of absolute silence in the tent, Trowa was finally able to relax and drift into a light slumber.

It was just before dawn when Trowa woke up. Something was off. He sat up and looked around the tent for the source of the noise that woke him. The girl's teeth were chattering as she shivered. He checked the sleeping bag. She was securely zipped inside of it.

He swore and moved to the other side of the tent where he shook Wufei awake. Trowa blocked the punch thrown his way.

"What the hell is wrong with you, Barton?" Wufei demanded as he flopped back onto his pillow.

Trowa knew waking any of the other pilots that way wasn't wise, but the girl needed to be seen to. "The girl is sick."

It took Wufei a moment for Trowa's words to register. "Damn. Wake Quatre, will you? Preferably not the same way you woke me. And then could you go get Heero? We need to discuss a course of action."

Trowa moved to wake the blonde as Wufei got up and went over to the girl. He knelt next to her and tentatively put a hand on her forehead.

"She's burning up," Wufei told Trowa quietly as he sat behind the Chinese pilot putting on his shoes.

Quatre frowned and looked at Trowa. "Just how did she end up in your sleeping bag, Trowa?"

"I heard her wake up and she was cold, so I switched her."

Quatre shrugged and went back to his side of the tent to pull on his shoes. He could feel the girl was awake. He wasn't sure what they were going to do. The plan had been to get her some breakfast and see if she would talk. Instead, she was sick and Wufei was worried even though he was trying to hide it.

Trowa slipped out of the tent and went to find Heero. He made his presence known and Duo stuck his head out of the tent.

"What's up, Trowa?"

"The girl is sick. Wufei wants to discuss it with Heero but he can't leave the girl. Can you tell him?"

"Sure thing. We'll be over in a minute."

Trowa nodded his thanks and returned to his own tent.

"What was that about?" Heero asked as he pulled on a shirt.

"That girl Quat and I found is sick. 'Fei wants to talk to you but can't leave her."

Heero swore. She was their only lead on this place. They needed her alive. He silently berated himself as he put on his shoes. He should want her alive for more than just because she was a witness. He damned all those years of conditioning that kept resurfacing at the most inopportune times. He was getting better but sometimes Dr. J's training still trumped everything else. It was rather infuriating sometimes, but Duo at least understood and was patient with him.

"You okay?" Duo asked as he finished rebraiding his hair and started putting on his shoes.

Heero grunted. "I'll be better when we get the girl's statement. The sooner she talks the sooner we can put her into protective custody and get this whole thing cleared up."

Duo frowned. "If only it was gonna be that easy."

"Trowa told me he killed Decart yesterday."

Duo snapped his head up and stared at Heero. "No shit? The guy running the ring?"

Heero nodded. "That's what Trowa said. At least…"

"You don't think that's who he really was."

Heero shook his head. "Decart is too smart to let someone catch him with a victim…and a dead one at that. I think the guy told Trowa he was Decart as a decoy. He was probably expecting to either intimidate Trowa or get special treatment. Instead, he pissed Trowa off and got himself shot."

"That's why you insisted on the DNA scan."

Heero nodded. "That's why. But I think the girl will be able to identify Decart…and if not Decart, then whichever one of his lackeys was running this particular house."

Duo frowned. "So you think there's more than one house?"

"Unfortunately, yes. I can't find where the video feed is being kept. I can't tap into it without being noticed and the mainframe isn't at this location, which suggests this is just an offshoot branch. It might even be just a decoy to keep us off the right track. I'll need to go over everything again once we get back to base to make sure we didn't miss something important."

Duo stood. "Right. Well, let's see what we need to do to keep the kid alive."

Heero stood and led the way out of the tent.

There were few agents out and about at this hour. The ones that were awake were about to finish their shifts and they snapped to attention as Heero and Duo passed.

When they got to the tent, Heero opened the flap while Duo elected to stay behind him, rather than get in the way. Wufei and Quatre were kneeling on one side of the girl, while Trowa sat on the other, leaning casually on his pack.

Heero decided to cut to the chase. "Has she talked yet?"

"No. And she's gotten worse. When can we leave?" Wufei didn't like how much effort the girl had to put into breathing. She needed Sally's expertise.

"We move out in an hour." That was the earliest Heero could arrange for transportation for the girl and assign other agents to keep gathering the required evidence from the house. He already planned to call Colonel Une and get another team out to take over out here so he could try to pin down Decart for real.

Wufei muttered to himself in Chinese as Heero and Duo left.

Quatre sighed and placed the blanket over the girl, hoping it would help.

"I need to check her back. Her shivering may have loosened some of her bandages."

Quatre frowned. "Are you sure that's a good idea right now, Wufei? Shouldn't we make sure she stays warm?"

"Those bandages are the only thing keeping her back from being rubbed raw right now Quatre. She'll need them to be secure for the trip back to base," Wufei pointed out.

"How can we help?" Trowa asked.

Wufei took the blanket and unzipped the sleeping bag. "Roll her onto her stomach and hold her carefully. We don't want to freak her out again."

Leaving Quatre and Trowa to do as he said, the Chinese pilot got fresh bandages from his pack. He didn't dare put more antibiotics on it. He didn't want to hurt her again. Besides, if they were going to get her to Sally in a few hours, Sally would need to see the injury without any creams messing up her tests.

Quatre and Trowa eased the girl onto her stomach, both trying to ignore how much the girl's ribs stuck out and the numerous bruises that littered her torso. What worried them the most was how limp she was. Unlike last night, she didn't fight them at all.

Wufei carefully straddled the girl's legs as he had done the night before to hold her steady. He hated the idea of removing the bandages but some had worked themselves loose and many had bled through during the night. He pulled them off as carefully as he could but the pained hiss that escaped the girl told him he wasn't being careful enough.

Quatre brushed the girl's unruly hair from her face. He almost jumped for joy when she didn't flinch. Maybe they were getting through to her. ""Shhhh…we're almost done," he reassured her.

Once Wufei was finished, Trowa wrapped the girl in the blanket again, as much to help her get warm as to protect her modesty. Then they zipped her securely into the sleeping bag.

"That's better," Wufei murmured as the girl's shivering tapered off and her breathing evened out as she once again fell asleep. "I'm going to see if we can't get her loaded into a transport. Do you want me to bring rations back?"

"I'll get them, Wufei. Unless you'd like to go, Quatre?"

Quatre shook his head. "No, Trowa. I'll stay here just in case she wakes up."

Trowa nodded and followed Wufei out of the tent, leaving Quatre alone with the sleeping girl.

"Hang in there…you're almost free," Quatre whispered.

The phone rang. He put down his drink and casually picked up the private line. "Yes?"

"When were you going to tell me your location was compromised?"

"I apologize, sir. I had hoped they would be satisfied with an initial search, but it looks like they're planning to stay a while."

"You should have contacted me the instant they showed up. Now we're going to have to scramble to cover everything. If they find our other locations we are through. Even you won't be able to talk your way out of a stint working on L5."

"I understand sir. What would you like me to do to fix this?"

"How many tarts did you have in residence?"

"One."

"Did you have any clients when they showed up?"

"One."

"So between the client and the courtesan they have two witnesses that will need to be silenced and discredited. That will be your first task. Once you complete that we'll decide what to do next. Now about the last task I gave you…"

He shifted uncomfortably in his chair. His boss would not be pleased.

"When can I expect delivery?"

He cleared his throat. "Well…sir…there were some extenuating circumstances. I didn't get to finish training the girl before they showed up so I don't have an exact date."

There was silence on the line.

He didn't dare make sure his boss was still on the line. He knew he was there as there was no dial tone.

His boss' voice was low and cold when he finally spoke. "I gave you a job to do. You know I don't approve of failure. You will have the girl to me next week or there will be consequences. Do you understand?"

"Y-yes, sir. I will not fail you again."

"See that you don't." The dial tone signaled the end of the conversation.

He hung up and let out a string of curses. He had to get the girl and finish her training. He tapped into the video feed on the house. All he could see were Preventer agents everywhere. He set his jaw as he scanned each room. The client was being removed in a body bag. There was one witness taken care of. There was no sign of his bedmate.

He changed the feed to the basement room where he'd left the girl. She was gone. Well that certainly complicated things. They must have her. He simply had to get her back. He cut the feed and sipped at his drink as he considered ways to get her back. After evaluating every possible scenario he could come up with, he smiled. This would be simple enough. And as long as he was careful, no one would suspect his involvement. As long as those nosy Preventers left soon he shouldn't have any problems meeting the deadline.

He adjusted his easy chair and resumed his book. He might as well take advantage of this chance to relax. Tomorrow, he had work to do.